Shenzhen is a beautiful garden-like city, an ideal place for living and tourism. Shenzhen became the first Chinese city to win first place in the category of the most-populated cities (with a population of 1 million) in the "Nations in Bloom" competition in Washington, D.C., the United States, in 2000, beating 32 other cities from 19 countries.

For nearly 30 years since its establishment, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone has stuck to the coordinated development of human beings and nature, taking a path of green development. It took the lead in China to make the first local regulation on the development of recycling economy, using legislation to secure sustainable economic growth. By carrying out reasonable urban planning, building an environment-friendly city, and fostering resident's identification with the city, Shenzhen has maintained a good environment even as the economy grew miraculously, becoming a model for the world's fast growing cities in achieving both economic and environmental successes. Shenzhen has won honors including the titles of "National Clean City," "State Model City for Environmental Protection," "National Excellent Tourist City," "Abercrombie Award for Urban Planning," "National Model City for Greening," "UNEP Global 500," "National Civilized City," "Model City for Protecting the Ozone Layer" and the United Nations' "Habitat Scroll of Honor Award." At present, Shenzhen has a green coverage of 976.4 square kilometers, with the green coverage ratio reaching 50 percent. The green coverage of developed areas is 320.85 square kilometers, with the green coverage ratio reaching 45 percent. The per capita public green space in developed areas is 16.1 square meters, with green land ratio for developed areas reaching 39.1 percent. About 89.28 percent of water in functioning zones is up to standard. About 71.5 percent of wastewater is treated while 90 percent of daily garbage is treated in an environment-friendly way. Shenzhen has become a "green city" worthy of the name.

In November 2005, the Shenzhen Municipal Government published the basic ecological control lines and promulgated relevant rules, becoming the first Chinese city to do so. About 49.88 percent of the city's land is within the control lines, and is off-limits to development except for the construction of public utility and tourism facilities.