Cities across the continent are growing at an unprecedented pace, creating new environmental challenges
Umesh Pandey Bangkok Post 21 Feb 11;
SINGAPORE : Asia is set to witness a sharp increase in the number of urban dwellers, something that governments must take into consideration in their city planning.
"Asian cities can make a difference to a greener planet, because more than 1 billion people are expected to be added to the various cities across the region in the near future," says Barbara Kux, the chief sustainability officer and a board member at Siemens AG.
China alone, which has been growing at breakneck speed over the past decade, will see more than 100 additional cities with a million residents or more.
"Asia, therefore, can plan its green cities going into the future, as most of these new cities that are yet to come are still in the planning stage," says Ms Kux. "Urbanisation in Asia is a mega-trend, and this is now non-reversible."
But what is needed is a good balance between urbanisation and sustainability, something that can be better achieved through the use of technology.
Ms Kux says that if the right technology is used, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by anywhere from 30-40%.
"These technologies are available in the market, and each city could learn from the others," she says.
Better planning might gain greater acceptance if governments realised that 90% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2030 and that even today cities consume 75% of the global energy supply and emit 80% of greenhouse gases.
This Asian surge and good planning for it are therefore of paramount importance to the future of the planet, says Jan Friederich, chief researcher for the Asia Green City Index, a newly launched index that measures the environmental conditions of various cities on the continent.
Mr Friederich, who is also a senior consultant with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), says good planning can help governments better manage their limited resources. More than 100,000 people are added to Asian cities each day, and if planning is not done well in advance, problems could appear.
He says the number of cities with more than 1 million population is rising dramatically, and 194 of the 387 that exist globally now are in Asia.
"To meet the challenges of the future, Asian cities need to deploy the technological innovations that would be the key for the future," he says.
Technical innovation is the key for Asian cities to find and pursue the best path towards a future that is both climate-friendly and worth living in, says Mr Friederich.
Technologies for transmitting electricity more effectively, using energy more economically and moving people more efficiently are crucial to making cities more sustainable.
Most of the global population growth in the next decade will take place in Asian cities. As these become transformed at a breathtaking pace, they will need to tap the best ideas available to ensure they remain viable.
Ms Kux says Siemens believes a comparative approach is the most effective way to highlight where things are going well and where there is room for improvement.
About a year ago, Siemens commissioned the EIU to conduct a study of urban development in Asia. The resulting Asian Green City Index carefully evaluates 22 major cities throughout the continent based on almost 30 environmental sustainability criteria.
The index supports cities in their efforts to expand their infrastructures sustainably in order to enable Asia's up-and-coming urban centres to achieve healthy growth rates coupled with a high quality of life.
The study also found that one Asian city in particular has been especially successful in pursuing ambitious environmental targets, effectively implementing environmental policies and integrating master planning _ Singapore, considered Asia's greenest city.
The trend toward urbanisation, above all here in Asia, raises questions of how soaring populations can be provided with infrastructure that conserves resources and protects the climate, an unprecedented challenge for Asia.
The proportion of Asians living in urban areas grew from 32% in 1990 to 42% last year. At this rate, Asian cities must be ready to accommodate an additional 1.1 billion residents over the next 20 years.
