World Cities Day is celebrated on 31st October 2022. First celebrated in 2014, each year’s global observance is held in a different city each year and the day focuses on a specific theme. The one chosen for 2022 is ‘Act Local to Go Global’. By bringing together diverse stakeholders to share their approaches towards local activities, World Cities Day hopes to generate new actionable ideas to empower local and regional governments to create greener, more equitable, and sustainable cities.
As a supporter of The United Nation’s Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 – ‘to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’, Singapore as one of the world’s only city-states has made sustainable urbanisation a key goal in its development. Just earlier this year, Singapore hosted the World Cities Summit with the goal of creating new development strategies as countries emerge from lockdowns and hardships caused by Covid-19.
Sustainable urbanisation as a concept
Urbanisation has been a core theme of development in the past few decades. 56% of the world’s population – 4.4 billion inhabitants – live in cities today. This trend is expected to continue, with the urban population more than doubling its current size by 2050, at which point nearly 7 of 10 people will live in cities.
The effects of urbanisation have dangerous consequences. Phenomena such as urban heating, and the destruction of important floodplains and coastlines have put millions of people at risk of natural disasters. Unplanned/unsustainable urbanisation risks accessibility to affordable housing, robust and inclusive public transportation and environmental degradation among other issues.
Sustainable urbanisation or the development of greener cities seeks to combat the negative environmental and social effects of unmitigated urbanisation. It focuses on improving the environment, enhancing the quality of life for urban residents, and ensuring greener economic outcomes. With greater urban planning, cities can better meet the collective infrastructure, mobility, energy, housing, and water needs of urban dwellers more effectively and efficiently.
Where does SEA stand in Sustainable Urbanisation?
Southeast Asian cities performed decently compared to other regions. 6 of Southeast Asia’s major cities rank in the top 100 of the Sustainable Cities Index in 2022. The index, topped mostly by European and North American cities measures sustainable urbanisation from environmental (planet), quality of life (people) and economic indicators (profit).
Where Southeast Asian cities excel in their pursuit of sustainable urbanisation is in the quality of life for their urban dwellers. The robust provision of public goods such as transportation, internet connectivity, healthcare and education have ensured that people living in these Southeast Asian cities have a better quality of life.
However, like cities in Europe or East Asia, Southeast Asian cities are becoming more unaffordable. In a mid-year survey by Blackbox, 81% of Singaporeans believe that their city is becoming an unaffordable place to live in.
Southeast Asian cities have also done reasonably in transitioning their economies towards a greener economy. From Green Finance to green technologies and renewable energy, cities in the region have taken important steps towards urbanisation fuelled by sustainable economic activities.
Moreover, people in the SEA region seem to be increasingly aware of their carbon footprint. In a study conducted by Blackbox, 7 in 10 (67%) Southeast Asian consumers say they would have gone out of their way to choose a travel option that was more environment-friendly or sustainable.
However, cities in the region are still significant laggards from an environmental perspective. Southeast Asian cities have a large emissions gap of 3 Gt (gigatonnes) CO2 – the equivalent of taking around 647 million cars off the road for a year to meet its net-zero emissions levels. Environmental issues such as deforestation, air pollution and the slow transition into renewable energy have all posed significant hurdles to the region’s shift towards sustainable urbanisation.
As more people live in urban environments, sustainable urbanisation with a human-centric approach will be needed. To understand how urban planners, developers and governments can engage with the public and create an inclusive and sustainable city, get in touch with us at connect@blackbox.com.sg.
Author: Blackbox Research Team
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