Mayors, private sector representatives gather together to make PH cities liveable

'INVESTMENT opportunities linked to the SDGs are predicted to grow exponentially ahead of other sectors. In the Philippines, the size of the prize is at least $82 billion and 4.4 million jobs by 2030,' Systemiq senior advisor Gail Klintworth said during the “Sustainable Cities Summit: Building Liveable Cities” held in October 17 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

Klintworth refers to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the "blueprint" to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030 encouraging the private sector to do business around the SDGs and seize the great opportunity there.

City mayors and private sector representatives took part in the Summit to discuss how to improve the state of local cities and make them more liveable. Mayors of the 145 cities in the Philippines together with private sector professionals and practitioners discussed major issues in developing liveable cities – basic services, mobility, resilience, and GovTech.

Aside from Klintworth, local and international experts were invited to share ideas and best practice around these key challenges and share how current digital trends and emerging technologies can bring about innovation in cities and communities.

Launched at the Summit is the Dashboard and Liveable Cities Challenge. The Dashboard is a visual database of key indicators of all the cities in the Philippines, which will be useful for local chief executives, investors, and residents in assessing the competitiveness and liveability of cities. Meanwhile, the Challenge is a 90-day design competition where cities will have the opportunity to meet mentors and compete to pitch their design solutions to a panel of experts in early 2020.

The entries will be judged by a panel composed of experts in the fields of urban planning, design, architecture, technology, engineering, among others. Competition entries will be posted online on a competition website (liveablecities.ph), Facebook account (fb.co/liveablecitiesph), and through news media outlets. Winners will be announced at the end of the cycle. While no formal cash award is planned, all entries are encouraged to prepare detailed funding proposals for projects to be funded either by the National Government, Local Government, or through the private sector in a Public-Private Partnership project. Winning candidates may also attract attention from various international agencies to

“Cities are the centers of economic growth and innovation, but the rate of urbanization and internal migration has created new challenges involving disaster resilience, mobility, and the delivery of basic services,” said Liveable Cities Challenge Chairman Guillermo M. Luz. “The Liveable Cities Challenge can help local officials develop comprehensive, replicable, and implementable solutions to improve the liveability of our metropolises, while strengthening local communities in the process.”

“Our goal is to build up awareness and understanding in these areas so that local executives can plan and develop more competitive, sustainable, resilient, and liveable cities for all,” said Luz. “Great cities are not built overnight, so let us start now.”

The Summit is hosted by the United States Agency for International Development together with the Liveable Cities Challenge and the League of Cities of the Philippines. Groups such as Globe Telecom, Shell Philippines, Dassault Systèmes, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Mynt (GCash), ABS-CBN News Channel and BusinessMirror also expressed their support for the Summit and the Challenge.