Report of the NEAT WG on Urbanisation:“Towards Good Urban Planning:
Sustainable Development and Better Quality of Life” Held inSingapore
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
IOverview

1.
More than half of the world’s population already resides in urban areas. The
United Nations has observed that Asia is currently home to 53% of the world’s urban
population, followed by Europe at 14%, and Latin America and the Caribbean at 13%. It
estimates that continuing population growth and urbanisation will add 2.5 billion people
to the world’s urban population by 2050. Asia and Africa are expected to contributenearly 90% of this increase. 12.
The ASEAN plus Three (APT) countries in Asia have to grapple with thechallenges and opportunities of this expected acceleration in urban population growth in
the coming years. Last year, the NEAT Working Group (WG) on Urbanisation examined
the broad trends of urbanisation in the APT countries arising largely from the rural-urban
migration. The WG shared experiences and best practices related to the urbanisation
process in general and made some recommendations to foster cooperation among theAPT countries in this area.
3.
Building on this foundation, NEAT Singapore decided to embark on Phase II thisyear by examining the specific area of urban planning, a critical component in ensuring
positive outcomes for residents living in a city. The concentration of people in urban
areas has raised urban density, and with that, led to increasing demand for land use. It
is therefore extremely important to plan a city well to ensure that it develops in a mannerthat achieves optimal economic, social and sustainability outcomes in spite of physicalconstraints, the competing demands for land use and the lack of resources.
4.
Almost all big cities in the world have physical plans (such as concepts plans,master plans and even development control regimes) that direct the way the city shouldgrow. However, not all development takes place according to these plans. Very often,other factors influence the way development takes place, and the physical plans remain
just on paper and not translated into reality. Good urban planning thus requires not only1

“World Urbanisation Prospects: The 2014 Revision”, United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs/PopulationDivision,Released
in2014,Page
1,availableat
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf (accessed 16 April 2015).

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well coordinated and integrated plans but also the effective implementation of theseplans.
5.
With this in mind, the NEAT WG on Urbanisation comprising experts from theAPT countries gathered in Singapore on 21 July 2015 to share their knowledge andexperience on urban planning in their respective countries. The WG discussed andexchanged views on the progress made as well as the challenges encountered by therespective countries in urban planning. The WG further deliberated on a set ofrecommendations for APT cooperation in urban planning which can be found in the lastsection of this report.
6.

The list of NEAT participants is at Annex.

IIChallenges Encountered

7.
While acknowledging the progress made in urban planning in the APT countries,
the WG noted that there remained wide-ranging and complex challenges to be tackled.
At the institutional or systemic level, some of the key challenges highlighted included
the fragmented or multiplicity of urban planning institutions; poor supervision andimplementation of urban planning; too many plans; weak coordination at each urban
planning level and between levels; lack of transparency in urban planning process;malpractices in the urban planning sector; and the lack of a long-term and integrated
approach to urban planning. The WG stressed that urban planning went beyond the role
played by urban planners although they are among the key stakeholders. What is more
important is how the various stakeholders work together through a cross-sectoral
manner (that includes taking into account economic, social and environmental
considerations) to improve the lives of residents in urban areas over a sustained periodof time.
8.
At the capacity-building level, some of the key challenges included insufficiently
trained skilled manpower, poor physical infrastructure and lack of financial resources.
Another challenge is to engender in urban planning stakeholders a forward-looking
mindset that constantly anticipates change, plans for change and looks to finding
creative and even local solutions to meet urban planning challenges.
9.
Global trends and developments that affect the growth of cities are also posing
new constraints and unknowns to urban planners. These include the challenge ofaddressing post industrial development where traditional growth sectors decline andnew growth areas need to be found; planning for the future when it is becoming harder
to predict what the future will hold given shorter product life cycles, rapid technologicaladvances and shrinking fiscal budgets; and, grappling with higher public expectations(and hence political pressure) on urban planners to satisfy short term demands overlong-term planning. In addition, global warming and climate change can be expected toexert greater influence on the planning parameters of urban planners. Furthermore,
urban planners would need to better manage the growing tension between development2

and conservation not only in the cities but also in the coastal areas where thelivelihoods of local communities are being threatened by tourism and other-related
developments.
10.
Many of the above challenges underscore the importance of putting in place atleast two key pillars of good urban planning. The first pillar is to have integrated masterplanning and development. For one, this calls for a high degree of coordination among
various government ministries and agencies. Such coordination would allow for theconcerns or differences among the various ministries and agencies to be addressed
and for practical solutions to be found in the interest of achieving national objectives. It
also requires those involved in urban planning to adopt a long term approach, to build insome flexibility in their plans, to execute effectively and to innovate to find creative
solutions based on local conditions and constraints.
11.
The second pillar is to have dynamic urban governance. This refers to how theleadership at the political and bureaucratic levels interacts with citizens and otherstakeholders to make decisions on how a city plans, develops, utilises and manages its
physical and environmental resources to achieve national outcomes. Some of the key
principles that constitute dynamic urban governance include leading with vision andpragmatism, building a culture of integrity, cultivating sound or effective institutions,involving the community or other relevant players as stakeholders, and working withmarkets (namely the private sector) wherever possible.
IIIRecommendations

12.
The APT governments need to work closely together on urban planning toachieve a sustainable balance among various considerations such as economic growth,social progress and environmental protection that facilitates the building of liveable
cities for residents. Together, they can develop greater synergies and mitigate
shortcomings in the area of urban planning. The task of building liveable cities is getting
urgent as Asia is expected to bear the brunt of more and accelerated population growthin its urban areas in the coming years. The following are key recommendations topromote APT cooperation on urban planning:a. Demonstrate political will and commitment by adopting a whole-of-government
approach along with long-term integrated design in the planning anddevelopment of a city.
b. Ensure sustainable urban planning outcomes by combining the pursuit of arobust urban economy with social and environmental considerations, anddisaster resilience.
c.

Promote an open and inclusive approach by involving relevant stakeholders toencourage joint ownership and pooling of resources.
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d. Empowering local actors especially the local government and local community topromote bottom up urban planning and public participation, and ensure theresponsiveness of urban planning policies to local needs.
e. Undertake pilot/joint projects or compile a collection of case studies to better
share knowledge, expertise and experience on urban planning among the APTcountries.
f.

Enhance capacity building especially training of skilled manpower on urbanplanning.

g. Explore alternate financing solutions such as Public-Private Partnerships (or PPP)or other financial institutions in urban planning apart from traditional sources ofgovernment funding.
h. Leverage on international or global platforms such as the World Cities Summit(held biennially in Singapore - next one to be held in July 2016) and the Habitat
III Conference (by the United Nations to be held in Ecuador in October 2016) toexplore and share practical lessons and ways forward for sustainable urban
planning and development.
.....

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AnnexParticipants to the NEAT WG on Urbanisation(by alphabetical order)
No.

Country

Details

1.

----

2.

ASEAN
Secretariat
NEAT Brunei

3.

NEAT Cambodia

Mr. Phal Sophorn
Expert, Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning andConstruction

4.

NEAT China

Dr. Miao Ji
Institute of Asian Studies, China Foreign Affairs University

5.

NEAT Indonesia

Prof. Sangker Tadi
Professor, Department of Architecture, Sam Ratulangi University----Ms. Reny Syafriny
Teaching Staff, Department of Architecture, Sam Ratulangi
University
6.

NEAT Japan

Dr. Mika Toyota
Associate Professor, Rikkyo University

7.

NEAT Korea

Ms. Kim, Joo-young
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Archaeology and Cultural
Anthropology
Chonbuk National University, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, Korea

8.

NEAT Lao PDR

Dr. Lattana Thavonesouk
Deputy Director General, Institute of Foreign Affairs MOFA

9.

NEAT MalaysiaDr. Ai Tee Goh
Professional Architect, Member of Board of Architects Malaysia

10.

NEAT Myanmar

Mr. Than Tun
NEAT Country Coordinator, Myanmar-ISIS, MOFA, Yangon

11.

NEAT
Philippines

Dr. Marife Ballesteros
Senior Fellow, Philippine Institute for Development Studies

512.

NEAT Singapore

Prof. Wang Gungwu
Chairman, EAI, National University of Singapore (NUS)
NEAT Singapore Country Coordinator
Prof. John Wong
Professional Fellow, EAI, NUS
Organiser of the NEAT WG on Urbanisation
Ms. Mina Zhan
Assistant Director, Center for Liveable Cities
Mr. Lye Liang Fook
Research Fellow and Assistant Director, EAI, NUS
Miss Ping Xiaojuan
Research Assistant, EAI, NUS

13.

NEAT Thailand

Dr. Kitapatr Dhabhalabutr
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture, Khon Kaen University

14.

NEAT Vietnam

Dr. Pham Thuy Loan
Deputy Director of Vietnam National Institute of Architecture,
Ministry of Construction

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