Push Admin

In Asia's booming cities, including Manila, urban planners urged to include the poor

Article (news)

Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters Foundation

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/10/16/20171121-pasay-slum-skyline-md-5.jpg"/><figcaption>A slum area in Pasay City with the Makati skyline in the background. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>PENANG, Malaysia - Urban planners in rapidly expanding Asian cities must involve the poorest residents in decision-making and include informal spaces if they are serious about tackling inequality, development experts said on Wednesday.More than 2.3 billion people in Asia-Pacific live in cities, and that number is expected to reach nearly 3.5 billion in 2050, according to the United Nations.But one-third of urban dwellers live in slums or slum-like conditions and are under constant threat of eviction as planners and authorities look to modernize cities, said Elisa Sutanudjaja at the Rujak Center for Urban Studies, a Jakarta think tank.&quot;Cities in Asia are largely a mix of formality and informality, but urban planning is never neutral: it&#x27;s all formal vs informal, legal vs illegal,&quot; she said on the sidelines of a UN urban conference in Penang.&quot;But the right to city is far more than individual liberty to access urban resources and livelihoods; it is also about informality and community.&quot;This year, a majority of Asia-Pacific&#x27;s population for the first time became urban, with more than half the population living in cities, according to a UN report published earlier this week.With growing pressure on resources such as land and water, the region is struggling to make &quot;effective planning systems a cornerstone of national policy&quot;, said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, executive director of UN-Habitat, the human settlements agency.Cities in the region that are ranked high for liveability, including Singapore, and those in Australia, Japan, and South Korea have co-produced solutions with citizens, she said.&quot;Bridging the digital divide, engaging the urban poor, and building climate resilience must be a priority. We have to ensure equitable distribution of resources,&quot; said Sharif, a former town planner and mayor of Penang Island, off Malaysia&#x27;s west coast.But increasingly, planners are ignoring the poorest and most vulnerable residents including slum dwellers and street vendors, said Renu Khosla, director of the Centre for Urban &amp; Regional Excellence in New Delhi.&quot;Our cities are not being planned for the poor. But when cities are planned without people in mind, you get more informal settlements, you get more inequality,&quot; she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.&quot;Perhaps it&#x27;s time to move away from territorial and land-based planning, and plan around people and their needs.&quot;From Bangkok to Manila, as Asian cities strive to become more modern, street vendors and hawkers are viewed increasingly as a hindrance to city planning and are being evicted from pavements.But public spaces are for the good of all members of the public and must be legally available to everyone, said Chidchanok Samantrakul at WIEGO, a global non-profit that helps informal workers.&quot;Half the city is informal - informal settlers, street vendors - yet planners only focus on the formal. But there has to be opportunity for everyone to co-exist,&quot; she said.Several cities in the region are now using Minecraft, a video game that allows players to build their own worlds using virtual Lego-like pieces, to get communities to participate in upgrading their common spaces, under a UN-Habitat program.In the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where women and girls often face harassment on the streets and on public transport, Minecraft was used to identify safety issues and make public spaces safer, said Thu Dao Thi Bao of non-profit Plan International.&quot;Technology helps give girls and women a voice. We have to encourage their participation in city planning and management.&quot;

From Bangkok to Manila, as Asian cities strive to become more modern, street vendors and hawkers are viewed increasingly as a hindrance to city planning and are being evicted from pavements.

From Bangkok to Manila, as Asian cities strive to become more modern, street vendors and hawkers are viewed increasingly as a hindrance to city planning and are being evicted from pavements.

In Asia's booming cities, including Manila, urban planners urged to include the poor

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Sudoku

Word of the Day

Lotto

Horoscope

Spotlight

In Asia's booming cities, including Manila, urban planners urged to include the poor

Rina Chandran,

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Published October 16, 2019 05:30 PM PHT

Read More:

Manila

Asia

capital

cities

metro

urban planners

poor

informal settlers

squatters

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.