Urban Design Education Towards Integrated, Sustainable & Liveable Cities

Adrian Lo, Director, Urban Design & Development (International), Thammasat University

Think Globally, Act Locally

I approach urban design with a Glocal mindset, which means to think globally but to act locally. I believe that city modernization should always be undertaken while considering traditional knowledge and cultural practices. Successful international urban development projects in diverse regions requires skills that reflect the ability to develop masterplans, set a clear vision, maintain cultural sensitivity and develop strong communication and collaboration across different sectors and actors.

Designing Sustainable, Liveable and Economically Viable Cities

Currently, more than half the world’s population is living in urban areas, and it is projected by the United Nations that nearly 70 percent will be urbanized by 2050, particularly in Asia and Africa. Asia is home to more than half of the world’s urban population, such that one quarter of the world’s population is living in the cities and towns of Asia. Moreover, 70-75 percent of the human-induced greenhouse gases, responsible for the current and urgent climate crisis, are coming from urban areas. Most of this is coming from the built environment, but a significant proportion is also coming from the transport sector. Thus, cities have a major role to play in terms of sustainability and planetary health in mitigating or adapting to the climate crisis while also providing better opportunities for economic growth and liveability for their citizens.

Urban design’s main role is the shaping of public spaces, the space between buildings, the connectivity between them and other parts of the city. Urban design concepts such as Transit-oriented Development (TOD) and Compact Cities need to be better integrated in order to serve the public. By reducing urban sprawl, urban developments can be better concentrated and connected by transit corridors, with each station area featuring a compact urban approach, whereby all daily necessities are within a walkable distance and enhanced with Pedestrian-oriented Design (POD).

“City modernization should always be undertaken while considering traditional knowledge and cultural practices.”

By designing our cities integrated with public transit, people can shift away from privatized vehicles and get around via train, bus, tram or even ferry. Pulling towards or incentivizing public transit should simultaneously de-incentivize private car ownership in order to maximize the opportunities and benefits of a Transit Integrated Development (TID). With good public space design, whether it be streets, plazas, parks or elevated skywalks connecting the buildings from the transit nodes, people would be able to get to their destinations while enjoying the journey.

Cities that avoid or minimize privatized vehicles and shift towards mass public transit, particularly electric trains or buses, can help mitigate greenhouse gases, especially lowering carbon emissions, and so reducing the impact of climate change. Thus, cities have a significant role to play to make the world more sustainable, liveable and inclusive.

Gaining Value Through Cross-Border Engagement

In cross-border development work, professionals frequently encounter several opportunities, which include knowledge exchange in terms of learning about new cultures and ways of thinking, as well as the potential to adapt prior ideas and assumptions to local contexts and practices.

Guidance for Urban Designers in Cross-Cultural Contexts

To urban designers working at the intersection of cities, policy and development, my advice would be to understand international agendas while appreciating local issues. For instance, this could mean evaluating the hurdles of local implementation of urban concepts (TOD, TID, POD, etc.) and see how these concepts can be adapted to the local context. For example, cities in South-East Asia are hot and humid, so a 15-minute walking city is perhaps too uncomfortable on the surface. However, what Singapore has done is to create an underground network, connecting three MRT stations (City Hall, Esplanade and Promenade), four MRT lines and all the shopping and commercial spaces in between. This effectively creates an underground compact walkable city served by economic and transit nodes, allowing people to get around regardless of the weather outside.