Annual review 2022
Future-ready cities for south-east Asia
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A programme to develop 13 key infrastructure projects across south-east Asia called for a forward-thinking approach to transport infrastructure, urban planning and climate resilience, with social outcomes at the fore.
Project
Global Future Cities Programme, south-east Asia
Client
UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Location
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
Expertise
Programme management, transport planning, climate resilience, urban planning, data management systems
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Socially inclusive development
Huge economic growth is predicted for the six south east Asian countries of the Global Future Cities programme. If infrastructure investment is delivered holistically and focused on social outcomes, there is a great opportunity here to create sustainable, inclusive growth that benefits all sections of society. This allies with the core ethos of our Cities Practice: to integrate the breadth and depth of our professional services, tailoring them to create a place and people-based approach that meets all citizens’ needs.
As social inclusion was one of the programme’s main drivers, we used the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide and assess our interventions, maximising the benefits to local people and wider society. We also aligned all the programme’s activities with UK legal frameworks, including the International Development Act 2002. Measuring and advancing gender equality and social inclusion was central to our work: we considered it from the very beginning of each intervention and aimed to embed transformative change in local communities.
