Urban planners look to 30-year schemes

OVERCROWDED cities in developing nations could tackle unmanaged urban sprawl more effectively by creating 30year plans based on acquiring cheap land adjacent to their suburbs and developing those new areas in a sustainable way, experts said yesterday.

Some urban planners and researchers are trying out an idea proposed by the New York University Marron Institute of Urban Management for cities to buy land and then partner with the private sector to build affordable housing, transport links, good sanitation and recreational areas there, said Anjali Mahendra of the US-based World Resources Institute.

“Cities need to project their needs of urban growth for the next 30 years, figure out the locations where they can accommodate that growth, and go and acquire that land,” Mahendra, who is investigating the approach, said on the sidelines of the World Urban Forum, the world’s biggest conference on cities.

About 4 billion of the world’s 7.4 billion people live in urban areas, according to the World Bank. By 2045 it expects that to rise to 6 billion.

Asia-Pacific is one region urbanising at an unprecedented pace. More than half its population lives in urban areas, and that will climb to two-thirds by 2050, the UN says.

About 1.5 billion people in Asia lack basic sanitation services, for instance, while 250 million people live in slums, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank said.

Development in many Asian cities experiencing rapid urbanisation is often unstructured and unsustainable, said Manoj Sharma, an urban development specialist at the ADB in Manila.

A 30-year plan to address urban expansion in a more controlled and environmentally friendly way would be a step forward, he added.