The Future of Asian Cities (UN-ESCAP)

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ESCAP is pleased to share with you a new discussion paper on Future of Asian and the Pacific Cities: Transformative Pathways Towards Sustainable Urban Development in the Post COVID-19 Era.

This discussion paper complements the framework, thematic pillars and pathways developed in the Future of Asia and the Pacific Cities report, adding the dimension of urban health and resilience from the lessons learned during the ongoing health crisis. The paper examines long-term health equity issues and the implication of the current COVID-19 pandemic on cities across the region.

We believe the content of this paper contributes to enhancing the relevance of the policy pathways in the Future of Asia and the Pacific cities report in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Further, it identifies challenges and opportunities of cities in the region to prepare for, respond to and recover from pandemics, across different urban systems, ensuring sustainable urban development and localization of SDGs. The paper suggests additional recommendations/pathways for Asian and the Pacific Cities to adequately recover in the short-term and “Build Back Better’ in medium and long-term.

As our key partner and contributor in developing the framework and pathways in the Future of Asian and the Pacific report, we want to thank you for your contributions to the development of this paper and welcome your further dissemination. Many thanks to all participants of the 5^th October 2020 Expert Group Meeting, which informed the final content of this paper.

We hope you find this paper useful in the design and implementation of your urban policies and strategies to support sustainable urban development in Asia-Pacific cities.

Executive summary:

Introduction - Health and the

future of Asia-Pacific cities

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that prepare outbreak responses need to take into

account the spatial characteristics of the urban

environment and to valorise environmental qualities

in living neighbourhoods. Yet, cities do need to refrain

from moving away from density, as it is an ingredient

of compact city development that allows more

health benefits, more economies of scale and more

environmental protection.

The use of technology and data is an opportunity for

better sector integration and a deep learning potential

when engaging UTP and public health professionals

to build together a spatial epidemiology science for

the study of spatial and temporal variations in disease

risk or incidence in urban environments.

UTP needs to be seen as a key policy domain mostly

in the hands of cities to make choices regarding the

future path of human health, urban resilience and

planetary health along the following pathways:

n Pathway 1: Integrate sustainability

and quality-of-life targets into urban

planning in order to future-proof public

and private investment in cities

UTP needs to mainstream evidence-based

planning and design monitoring approaches

and integrate explicit health targets in

sustainable urban and territorial planning

processes that are emerging on the national

and subnational levels in Asia and the Pacific.

This will ensure the public and private sector

to be held accountable for urban development

investments that focus on health and support

efforts for health and economic resilience, and

planetary health as well.

In the current situation, local authorities and

communities are experimenting to make

urban environments healthier and more

accessible for all. In moving towards the post-

COVID recovery phase, there is an opportunity

for UTP to prepare for fast transition towards

sustainable urban development models,

implementing short-term interventions as

well as adopting better norms, standards and

guidelines as part of larger health resilience

and economic recovery plans.

n Pathway 2: Co-produce with

citizens urban planning solutions that

align technological investment with

adequate local government capacities

Local government and community networks

have proven to be able to collaborate effectively

in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and to

ensure alternative access to basic services

once the lockdown measures disrupted urban

economies and led to cuts in supply chains.

If urban planning professionals are properly

trained to communicate with non-experts

and to use the latest digital techniques, UTP

can leverage this system of place-making as

a community-led action to reimagine public

spaces and strengthen neighbourhoods as

healthy living circles for multi-generational

societies. It will also enhance shared literacy

with the general public on how cities work in

the broadest sense and on the importance of

UTP.

n Pathway 3: Identify specific

urban regeneration and growth

strategies that optimize urban-rural

and city-region collaboration to spur

sustainability and investment

The COVID-19 crisis illustrates the scale of the

housing crisis and the vulnerability of those

living in poor housing with inadequate access

to basic services. Therefore, the recovery

needs to focus on city-region coordination in

order to address affordable housing for all,

ensure functional regional economies during

pandemics and reduce car-focused sprawl

and green field development in favour of

compact urban development and naturebased

solutions. Based on better planning

tools and greater capacity for UTP throughout

the region, the sustainable expansion of

city hubs and strengthening of multi-modal

corridors can be achieved, thereby prioritizing

small and medium-sized cities as alternate

economic hubs to mega cities.

n Pathway 4: Strengthen housing

policies for all

The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated

the vulnerability of those who live in poor

housing or are homeless. In the short term,

Governments need to provide guidance

on prohibiting evictions from residences or

land, and to assist those residents who have

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financially been hit the most, with subsidies

to owners and renters, a moratorium on rent

increases and access to alternative shelters.

In the medium and long term, structural public

investments in affordable housing and slum

upgrading are needed.

n Pillar 2: Urban resilience

A healthy population is a resilient population

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated

the need to integrate public health considerations

into urban resilience efforts. Given its broad spectrum

of impacts, different types of resilience are needed.

Resilience related to health can be created through

strengthening the overall public health system

enabling environmental conditions to enable people

to lead healthy lives during and after disasters and

emergencies. Health facilities and structures need to

have capacity to accommodate additional patients

due to a pandemic as well as back-up electricity,

water and waste management. In addition, plans

should be made for dealing with possible disruptions

caused by a depleted workforce, or global supply

chain restrictions resulting from an infectious disease

pandemic. Resilience also requires also effective risk

communication to enable better health outcomes

and to rectify misinformation in a pro-active and

evidence-based way. In the process of strengthening

health systems and building better response

protocols to disasters and emergencies, the needs

of vulnerable groups, particularly populations living in

informal settlements, need to be prioritized.

The following policy pathways provide a solid basis

for building capacity to respond to public health

events and strengthening urban resilience with

regard to health more broadly.

n Pathway 1: Invest in nature-based

solutions and resilient infrastructure

Nature Based Solutions can have a multitude

of health benefits and should be prioritised

in the post-COVID recovery phase at various

levels. In order to be able to cope with physical

distancing measures, experiencing nature at

neighbourhood level is important, building

it into in-between or formal spaces. On a

larger city-region scale, it is key to develop

sustainable food systems by investing in

urban agriculture. On the global and national

levels the shift from fossil fuels to clean natural

sources of energy needs to be accelerated.

n Pathway 2: Understand the informal

economy and support urban poor

groups to be change agents

Investment in essential services is important

not only to enable people to practice prevention

measures in the face of infectious disease

outbreaks, but also to reduce vulnerabilities

to the impacts of disasters and emergencies

in the first place. This requires access to

essential infrastructure and services for all, but

also to social safety nets or social protection

mechanisms. Urban resilience systems need

to build in the need of scaling of access to

infrastructure, services and safety nets during

times of crisis.

n Pathway 3: Create and strengthen

partnerships

Building resilience across sectors and

between different levels of government

requires that the health sector is part of

comprehensive multisectoral and multilevel

governance mechanisms for disaster risk

management, including modelling of scenarios

as part of risk planning. This requires forms of

decentralisation of health and strengthening

of Governments to innovate and invest in

horizontal and vertical coordination, thereby

working collaboratively with local communities.

n Pathway 4: Utilization of data

As COVID-19 has exposed significant

data gaps, it is key to invest in data driven

approaches for building urban resilience. Data

integration is also important to analyse ‘multilayer

vulnerabilities’ and to design integrated

effective action on both climate resilience and

pandemic preparedness in specific urban

areas. Access to data and internet should also

become a basic service. If harnessed correctly

and applied equitably, advances in digital

technology provide an important opportunity

to provide underserved populations with

access to education.

n Pillar 3: Smart and inclusive cities

Bridging the urban health divide through technology

Over the past decade, Asian and Pacific cities

have led the way in developing leading smart city

programmes, focusing on distinct priorities that

reflect a wide variety of municipal needs and digital

capacities across the region. Still, smart cities have not

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yet realized their full potential in advancing a holistic

urban health agenda. Rapid technology advances in

sensing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning

and communication technologies have created

unprecedented opportunities to improve urban

health and reduce inequalities. However, there have

also been an increasing number of smart technology

‘overreaches’ in Asia-Pacific cities, which blur the

line between surveillance and data monitoring for

improved quality of life versus adequately protecting

citizen privacy and personally identifying biodata.

The COVID-19 pandemic is unlike any previous

infectious disease crisis, as it is the first to take hold

during the age of social media and global access to

communication technologies. As such, the pandemic

not only shines light on the success and advantages

of innovation in data and technology, but also on

the dangers, weaknesses and gaps. Obtaining

disaggregated, high-quality, and inclusive data

has proved essential to Governments successfully

monitoring, controlling and ultimately reducing the

health impact of COVID-19. Technology also has

proved its capacity to aid connectivity even during

physical distancing. Finally, technology has brought

digital democratization with new opportunities for

citizens to share their voices, ideas and opinions.

As smart city frameworks continue to evolve, it

is imperative that Governments create a strong

foundation for advancing smart and inclusive cities

for health throughout the region. If cities intentionally

refocus their governance systems through a health

equity lens, while incorporating data-driven decisionmaking,

the positive impacts on human health would

be immeasurable.

n Pathway 1: Improve smart city

governance across urban systems,

institutions and actors to overcome

inequalities and make more informed

and integrated planning decisions

The smart city model is a governance

approach to explore on a municipal level to

build a healthier city and achieving disease

prevention and health promotion goals.

Having digital health focal points within city

governments can help to ensure collecting

and sharing of data that is relevant to improved

health resilience. A healthy cities peer

sharing network will enable the exchange of

comprehensive up-to-date data, ideas, best

practices and tools around ICT application for

health.

n Pathway 2: Encourage technology

firms to become more civic minded

and create sustainable smart city

solutions with social enterprises

Transparent data sharing frameworks are

required to harness the positive possibilities of

‘digital epidemiology’, the real time assessment

of public health through technology.

Transparent and explicit data sharing

agreements are needed, so to allow higherquality

data collection methods and inputs,

more widespread participation, improved

business and public policy insights and

engender greater trust in government through

transparent, real-time data dashboards.

n Pathway 3: Adopt cybersecurity

safeguards in both digital and physical

urban infrastructure development

planning

Public and private partners in Smart City

programs need to prioritise the establishment

of cybersecurity safeguards and trusted

health data and information channel. This will

allow governments to conduct consistent,

clear and evidence-driven risk communication

campaigns that build trust with citizens and

offer sound scientific public health strategies

using digital technology. It will also facilitate

battling disinformation online.

n Pathway 4: Develop smart mobility

investment plans that prioritize

sustainable urban mobility options for

citizens

Cities should be actively working to integrate

electric vehicles (EVs) and digitally connected

public transportation systems into their

mobility systems. Expanding on these

recommendations to prioritize urban health

and a more resilient pandemic recovery

means focusing on shared, sustainable and

active transportation solutions. Connecting

these options digitally encourages usage,

improving physical activity, reducing stress,

enhancing mental health, reducing injuries and

strengthening the immune system.

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n Pathway 5: Expand viable smart

city funding mechanisms by enabling

cross-sector partnerships and

business matching platforms

With a shift to online service delivery and digital

or telehealth solutions, it is imperative that

internet access is assured for all residents so

that existing inequalities are not exacerbated.

Cities should consider cultivating cross-sector

partnerships with private companies and

social enterprises to offer affordable internet

packages to disadvantaged socio-economic

groups, that is designed for all, in particular

people with disabilities.

n Pillar 4: The future of urban finance

Investing in healthy cities

The COVID-19 responses and economic lockdowns

have highlighted major challenges in the financing

mechanisms of cities and local government.

Local and subnational Governments in Asia and

the Pacific are primarily responsible for disaster

management, but do not have revenue and other

financial resources to undertake the emergency

functions. Also, their revenue is likely to experience

severe negative impacts, up to 15% according to the

World Bank, due to the loss of economic activity.

Moreover, there will not be a complete recovery in

coming years, as the pandemic has also exposed

the issue of lack of diversification of local economies.

Many intermediary urban centres in the region rely

on domestic and international tourism that has

collapsed and will not recovery for at least the next

two to five years. Special economic zones and

satellite industrial towns on the periphery of major

metropolitan centres have given firms specialising in

assembly and manufacturing for export wide access

to skilled labour and major transit infrastructure,

but have been unable to overcome the logistical

challenges of the global supply chain disruptions.

Small local firms and informal sector workers at the

bottom of global garment value chains have not only

lost future income, but major international garment

buyers have eviscerated informal sector incomes by

voiding contracts for clothing already manufactured.

Therefore, municipal finance matters. Mobilising

investment in new urban infrastructure has been

a major success for Governments in the Asia-

Pacific region, but too often has overshadowed the

required changes to strengthen the basic pillars

of local government finance. Performance in this

area is vital to sustaining the full range of health

and protective services provided by infrastructure.

This means that urban finance systems must

deploy new spending programmes, backed by

predictable intergovernmental funding and financial

arrangements and better designed local revenue

instruments, that reach into informal settlements

and local informal labour markets that supply

essential and lifesaving goods vital to local economic

performance.

To avoid long-term contraction, cities must accelerate

investment in the wider set of urban infrastructure

sectors necessary to secure better environmental

and public health outcomes, including traditional

areas like affordable housing, water and sanitation,

and public hospitals and clinics. To strengthen

recovery and long-term municipal finance reforms,

national COVID-19 stimulus packages also need to be

complemented by devolution and technical support

to regional and local Governments.

n Pathway 1: Public private

partnerships for affordable housing

National Governments should use their

regulatory authority to include affordable

housing in PPP portfolio reviews. An affordable

housing PPP portfolio review could encourage

projects that have not broken ground to

revisit feasibility studies based on proactive

guidance from finance ministries and national

authorities.

The viability of future PPPs in affordable

housing must be understood in the context

of regional localisation of supply chains and

the expected epidemiological dynamics of

high-consequence and emerging infectious

diseases. In the medium-term, business

models for PPPs in affordable housing will

have to integrate new design standards for

housing units and the use of space within

housing developments, informed by the

latest public health risk assessments and

engineering studies.

n Pathway 2: Land-linked financing

mechanisms

Changes in land use demand, along with

national fiscal responses to the diverse

impacts of COVID-19, will continue to shift

the distribution of costs and benefits to

during recovery between different land

and property owners in different types of

cities. In the aftermath of pandemic events,

the value proposition of nature-based and

biophilic solutions to land-linked financing

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mechanisms, land restructuring, and healthy

and liveable cities becomes more evident.

Prioritising nature-based/ biophilic solutions in

land readjustment and land-based financing

mechanisms fit the continuum of food

production in the mixed use industrial and rural

desakota zones that characterise intermediary

cities in Asia and the Pacific.

n Pathway 3: Congestion and

environmental user rees

National fiscal stimulus packages and reform

programs in the wake of the COVID-19 are

therefore a major opportunity to strengthen

the design of policy and regulatory frameworks

to update and integrate pricing structures with

environmental objectives. While there are clear

technical challenges to doing so, especially

in the context of economic contraction,

reforming tariffs requires political support.

Two key steps for Asia and Pacific cities will

be revising lifeline tariffs and multipart pricing

schemes and increasing the flexibility of tariff

levels to “price-in” environmental externalities.

n Conclusion

Building back better – from pandemic

response to health resilience in cities

The COVID-19 crisis has not only exposed significant

deficits with regard to the pandemic preparedness

of cities, but also – and perhaps more importantly

– widespread health inequities within and between

cities across the globe. Recovery strategies can

therefore only be successful if they have the needs

of vulnerable populations at their core. The specific

actions that cities take will differ depending on their

typographies, resources, demographics and needs.

However, all cities – including those in the Asia-

Pacific region – should ensure that they do not just

focus on recovery from disasters, but also revisit

their pre-pandemic approaches. Creating urban

resilience in the context of public health requires

adequate long-term, cost-effective investments

associated with integrated environmental protection,

social security and data strengthening. The severe

economic consequences of the pandemic can be

used to strengthen the arguments for addressing

underlying risk factors and other determinants of

health.

The COVID-19 era highlights the importance for

cities and local governments to adopt an urban

health approach, supported by a national enabling

environment, that is effective and scaled. Changing

the urban environment to one that improves rather

than hinders human health requires policymakers at

all levels and all local government departments to

make health a central point of their decision-making

process. Health implications should be factored

into all the decisions they take, and policies that

prevent people from becoming ill as well as protect

them from injuries should be prioritized. To make an

impact, a multi-sectoral approach is indispensable –

including urban planning, building urban resilience,

supporting smart and inclusive cities, and designing

urban finance mechanisms.

It is now crucial that Asia-Pacific cities maintain their

focus on sustainable urban development and do not

succumb to the temptation to achieve economic

recovery at any cost. While the COVID-19 pandemic

is unprecedented in its scale and global impact, cities

now have an unprecedented opportunity to become

lighthouses of innovation in sustainability, inclusion

and health, for their communities and for our shared

planet.