Panel, Conference Presentation
Future-Proofing Cities: Evolutions in Sustainability-Centric Urban Design | Asia Summit 2024
Milken InstituteErin Murphy, Stephane Asselin, Clarence Barboza, Skye d'Almeida, Andrew Hodgson, Shruti Narayan, Sarah Murphy, Andy Hodgson
- Transportation and energy sectors in Asia face a transition toward decarbonization, with Singapore cited as an advanced model where 92% of the population uses public transit, while the region anticipates significant solar growth, a shift from grid dependency to local renewables, and the integration of net-zero systems into new city designs like the "ten-minute city" in Nusantara rather than retrofitting existing infrastructure.
- Climate risks are projected to intensify with more frequent extreme weather events and temperatures, necessitating underground transportation infrastructure and multi-purpose flood control facilities to mitigate heat island effects, with city leaders facing potential setbacks of $200 million from a single disaster against a backdrop of only $100 million in budgetary reserves.
- Capital deployment for sustainable infrastructure will rely heavily on the private sector due to government budget constraints, with institutional investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds targeting high single-digit returns on debt and low double-digit or high teens returns on equity, often preferring brownfield assets over unproven solutions unless 20 to 40-year operational horizons can be secured.
- Government strategies across ASEAN include rapid implementation of initiatives once decided, reinvestment in digital technologies to lower service costs and improve engagement, collaboration with cities via multi-level partnerships to revise Nationally Determined Contributions, and a push for multilateral development banks to lend directly to cities subject to creditworthiness requirements.
- Investment models are expected to evolve toward blended finance and public-private partnerships to demonstrate impact, while opportunities expand to include working directly with corporations on clean energy, repurposing existing buildings to minimize waste, and shifting the green economy from compliance to an opportunity-based model requiring new governance structures.
- The emerging hydrogen economy, circularity, and life-cycle carbon accounting represent growing sectors, though widespread adoption faces challenges, and career transitions will be driven by AI displacing mid-career jobs, requiring government-supported retraining, accreditation transfers, and strong cybersecurity measures to protect vulnerable demographics.
- Market dynamics indicate a persistent car dependency at the margins for marginalized groups despite advanced public transit in some areas, a low tolerance for failure among large institutions demanding 30-year revenue certainty, and a pressure on governments to value natural capital as the private sector increasingly invests in nature funds.