Regional: Smart and Livable Cities in Southeast Asia

Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Urban policy, institutional and capacity development

To ensure Southeast Asian cities minimize the challenges and maximize the opportunities resulting from urbanization, cities will need to ensure they have sufficient capacity for:

(i)Effective Urban Planning: Many SEA cities lack the technical capacity for integrated urban planning, and design and delivery of resilient and green urban infrastructures and services. The cities also lack the capacity to identify, assess and adopt smart and innovative technologies for urban planning to address climate change and rapid urbanization. Inadequate institutional structures, overlapping and fragmented arrangements to oversee management of complex and demanding urban services, and lack of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks, integrated planning, and financing systems have all led to urban sprawls and unplanned developments, urban environmental degradation, and overall poor level of livability, sustainability, and resilience in the SEA cities;

(ii)Effective Service Delivery: Many SEA cities lack capacity to identify, assess and adopt innovative approaches and smart technology. In addition, there are various challenges including budget and capacity for asset management, and sustainable operation and maintenance at the local government and service provider level which limit effective and efficient delivery of services to its citizens.

(iii)Effective Financial Management: The annual infrastructure investment needed for the SEA region was estimated to be about $210 billion from 2016 to 2030. The local and city governments, and the municipal service providers receive limited financial income through tax, tariff, subsidy from the central government, and other sources. Due to lack of well-regulated tariff systems, prudent financial management capacity, smart and innovative solutions, local capital resource mobilization and private sector participation, and inadequate revenue streams, the cities cannot invest enough in the key infrastructures and services that will improve livability and resilience.

Responding to both the challenges and opportunities of urbanization, and the need to enhance planning, service delivery and financial management, the TA is designed to support SEA cities to leapfrog using the exponential growth and emergence of technology and innovations. The deployment of broadband infrastructure, mobile telecom penetration, and wireless connectivity across SEA countries provides an opportunity for cities and service providers to plan, coordinate, govern, and finance urban services more effectively and efficiently. As such the TA will explore the possibility to apply disruptive technologies such as mobile internet, big data, cloud technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), and the automation of knowledge work to increase city smartness and as a result enhance livability. Examples of technologies to be explored include operating systems using real time data from sensors and IoT, tax payment and tariff collection systems, analyzing habitation patterns through socioeconomic profiles, understanding the needs of the citizens, analyzing service usage patterns, analyzing climate change events, and forecasting future events. Attracting private sector participation and investment through new technology, and financial innovation, the cities could break the norms and deliver more competitive, livable, and resilient environment.

Competitiveness, resilience, and livability levels of cities in Southeast Asia improved

Capacity of the participating cities to plan and enforce urban planning systems, provide services, and sustainably manage finances improved

Urban planning and enforcement systems in participating cities strengthened

Service delivery in participating cities strengthened

Financing structures and financial management systems in participating cities strengthened