(EnergyAsia, January 20, 2012, Friday) --- Asian cities must focus on developing liveable, competitive, inclusive and environmentally sustainable cities supported by imporved transportation systems, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

At a recent forum in Manila, Philippines, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said that with 80% of Asia’s GDP coming from urban areas, the quality and efficiency of its cities and their ability to innovate will determine the region’s long-term productivity and overall stability.

The Asian Urban Forum titled ‘Financing Future Cities’ attracted officials from central and municipal governments, financing institutions, the private sector, as well as representatives of non-government organisations, academia and multilateral agencies. Hosted and organised by the ADB, the event looked at ways to plan, develop and finance green, competitive, sustainable cities, drawing on real experiences from around the globe.

Half the world’s megacities with populations of over 10 million are in Asia, but their extraordinary rise has come at a cost.

Rapid urbanisation is adding huge pressure on secondary cities which are growing fastest. Over 200 million urban dwellers live in poverty, many in grim city slums.

Pollution is worsening, and climate change presents a new threat with the onset of increasingly severe natural disasters.

ADB launched a new publication, ‘Competitive Cities in the 21st Century: Cluster Based Local Economic Development’, at the forum. The book gives governments, businesses, the private sector and communities a blueprint for planning competitive, sustainable and inclusive urban economies.

Earlier, the ADB and Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) released their jointly published book on how cities in Asia should transform their transport systems to provide growing urban populations with greater mobility while ensuring a healthy and attractive urban environment.

“Changing Course in Urban Transport” highlights the transport challenges in Asian cities, including the growing trend towards motorised transport – a major factor behind the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.

The publication showcases low-carbon transport from around the world, which, if replicated on a large scale, could make Asian cities greener and more livable.

“In many Asian cities, rapid urbanization has been accompanied by rapid motorization which has led to increased congestion, carbon emissions, pollution, health and social problems, and lost economic opportunities,” said Bindu Lohani, ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development.

“But with sustainable transport systems, cities can regain their competitive edge, minimize their environmental impacts, and become more attractive places to live and work.”

The book highlights the importance of urban planning, traffic demand management, public transit, non-motorized transport, streetscape design, road planning, low-emission vehicles, and freight planning to promote sustainable transport in mushrooming cities.

ADB, through its Sustainable Transport Initiative, is supporting an increasing number of urban transport projects. These are designed to make transport accessible, affordable, environment-friendly and safe, especially for the disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society.

These include metro rail projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi, and Bangalore, a bus rapid transit system in Lanzhou, and an upgrade of the public transport system in Kathmandu. In 2011, ADB provided $592 million to help develop public transport projects in Asian cities.

Separately, ADB and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) which lend some US$8.4 billion annually for climate action in cities have agreed on a new partnership to combat global warming.

The agreement, announced today on the sidelines of the Durban Climate Change Conference, will see MDBs develop a common approach to cities in assessing climate risks, standardising greenhouse gas emissions inventories, and encouraging consistency in climate financing.