Future-ready cities for south-east Asia

A lack of infrastructure is one of the biggest drags on the strong economic growth expected across rapidly urbanising parts of south-east Asia. Megacities in emerging economies are often afflicted by the same three issues: poor transport, piecemeal urban planning and inadequate climate resilience. We worked alongside UN Habitat as delivery partner for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s Global Future Cities programme in the region to realise 13 key infrastructure projects, with a focus on social outcomes. From a transformation plan for a former red-light district, to a green transport corridor in a heritage setting and flood management in a capital city, we aimed to embed transformative change in each of the communities we worked within. We took a bespoke approach to each intervention, using in-person workshops, webinars and surveys to understand the issues for local people, and inviting community input into our designs. Digitalisation has been central to our efforts, and in each country we helped develop a cadre of people with advanced digital skills. With these planning and infrastructure projects extending across nine cities in six countries, 27M people stand to gain. The work will also be replicable elsewhere - spreading the social and sustainability benefits yet further.