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Cities in Southeast Asia are now faced with the strategic choice of whether economic dynamism comes at the cost of a liveable city. Pollution, concentration of population, congestion, and poor environment all contribute to this dilemma. To prevent future generations being saddled with the legacy of poor urban planning and development failure, one option is to manage the region's urbanization processes by developing "smart cities". Smart cities of the future will need sustainable urban development policies where all residents, including the poor, can live well and the attraction of the towns and cities is preserved.
Good urban planning underpins the development of a smart city. Characteristics of a smart city have been identified as smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment, and smart living (Giffinger 2007). Smart cities are thus cities that have a high quality of life: those that pursue sustainable economic development through investments in human and social capital, and traditional and modern communications infrastructure (transport and information commmunication technology): and manage natural resources through participatory policies. Smart cities should also be sustainable, converging economic, social, and environmental goals.
Urbanization in Southeast Asia: The Need for Smart Cities
Southeast Asia has a variety of urban manifestations: three megacities (Bangkok, Jakarta, and Manila) with populations in excess of ten million; a city state (Singapore); three countries (Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines) with over 50 per cent of the population living in urban areas; and seven with predominantly rural populations (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, TimorLeste, Vietnam) (Population Reference Bureau 2009).
The United Nations Population Division's World Urbanisation Prospects 2009 Revision estimates that 65 per cent of the population in Southeast Asia will live in urban areas by 2050, a significant increase from today's 41.8 per cent. Even in countries with large rural populations, cities are at the centre of economic growth in Southeast Asia. While there are variations throughout the region, most urban places are unable to provide adequate employment, shelter, security, infrastructure, and services to their growing urban populations. There is growing recognition that the quality of urban development affects the prospects for development, nationally as well as at the regional level.
Although all Southeast Asian countries - particularly the members of ASEAN - strive for better standards of...