Achieving Sustainable Urban Development (ASUD) in the Philippines

The urban population of the Philippines accounts for 49% of the total population. By 2050 an estimated 84% of Filipinos will be living in urban areas.

The three-year UN-Habitat programme ASUD in the Philippines aims to strengthen the capacities of national government agencies and cities in the country by demonstrating innovative approaches in achieving sustainable urban development. The programme was implemented in three pilot cities: Iloilo, Silay and Cagayan de Oro, selected together with the key national government partners. These cities are mostly intermediary (150,000 to 622,000 inhabitants) with population growth rates ranging from 1.42% to 2.54%. Each one of them has a strategic role in their respective region as most of them are capital cities and regional centers.

Thomas Stellmach, the founder of TSPA, had a chance to be a part of this unique UN-Habitat initiative. As an expert consultant in UN-Habitat, he was supervising the development of normative and policy papers throughout building capacity of local administrations and organizing different workshops.

ASUD addresses the gaps and deficiencies in current urban planning processes and policies at the national and local levels to be able to effectively respond to the complex demands of rapid population and economic growth. It supports cities in developing strategic sustainable urban development plans and implementing demonstration projects, particularly planned city extensions (PCEs). PCEs, as opposed to fringe development, represents an alternative to unplanned urban expansion characterized by sprawling, segregated, and poorly connected developments.