NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

Assessing sustainable urban development
in Asian megacities of developing countries
Due to their size, complexity, growth rates and socio-cultural
diversity, megacities in developing countries pose a particular
challenge to the concept of Sustainable Urban Development
(SUD). Over the last years, a number of indicator
systems for the assessment of SUD have been developed.
The systems combine indicators, such as per-capita income,
literacy rate or particulate matter emission. These systems
intend to cover the elementary needs for SUD in a designated
city or city type and are thus helpful tools for understanding
and communicating the context-specific issues of
SUD. They further point out the need for improvement in
areas with poor results, and contribute to the formulation
of standards and development goals. Typically, indicator
systems are embedded in comprehensive assessment programmes.
However, most of these programmes remained
at the study level or were in use for only a short period. Indepth
analyses of existing practices in developing countries
have rarely been conducted.
The study draws on interviews with pivotal local actors in
Jakarta (Indonesia), Bangkok (Thailand), Shanghai (China),
Hyderabad and Ahmedabad (both India) conducted in 2008.
Experts included (i) scholars, (ii) government officials at the
national, provincial and municipal levels, (iii) representatives
of regional planning authorities and urban planning
associations, and (iv) representatives of social, environmental
and international organisations. So far, the lessons
learned – based on 16 indicator programmes – show that
using indicators has positive effects, but may also harbour
dangers. In developing countries, the experts focus more on
the lack of effect and on negative contributions of sustainability
indicators than previous literature has. In cities with
numerous indicator systems in place, actors’ awareness
of negative effects is higher. Constraints for the indicator
implementation could be identified in six different areas,
with a number of similarities between the five cities, but
diverging key areas.
Our project aims at understanding and developing assessment
concepts for SUD in developing countries in Asia
with a focus on megacities. We are exploring how pivotal
actors perceive the contribution of sustainability indicators
as their perception influences the implementation success.
Specific implementation constraints, as well as success and
failure factors of indicator systems are being identified, and
models for the development of assessment programmes
are being derived.
Research fellow
Sabrina Krank, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
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Supervisors
Holger Wallbaum, ETH Zurich, Switzerland;
Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, ETH Zurich, Switzerland;
Rashmi Mahon,
Pragna Research and Consultancy Service, India
Collaborators
The research is conducted in cooperation with
29 institutions in Jakarta, Bangkok,
Shanghai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
Duration
June 2007 – May 2010
Research collaboration
Urban and rural transformation
Slum improvement project in Klong Bang Bua,
Bangkok, Thailand: Canal bank with old structures (left),
and redevelopment (right)