Future directions for attracting city-based investment in developing countries for urban resilience and social well-being
Disadvantages: The need for a straightforward, pragmatic, and systematic approach
Resilience in urban areas typically refers to the ability to recover from disasters or emergencies, including rain, floods, epidemics, industrial accidents, terrorism, power shortages, or frequent traffic jams. Processes to improve urban resilience are compatible with the social well-being of citizens. For example, urban and country parks to facilitate Sponge City; City brains and ubiquitous sensing systems to facilitate rapid response to emergencies and mandated measures; Apart from this convenient mobility system connects the satellite towns with the metropolitans
The issues today are not limited to whether we need it at all in terms of urban resilience. By avoiding purely theoretical or academic discussions and a large number of duplicate or isolated projects, the focus should instead be on how to facilitate this in a straightforward, practical and systematic manner. For example, the World Bank-led Transport Corridor Plan by the Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance (ZICA) lacks a concrete programme.
Methodology: Integration of multiple frameworks
Traditional infrastructure mainly refers to urban businesses, such as rail transit, energy, public health and emergency management. These businesses guarantee our daily life and urban activities. Digital infrastructure includes wireless and wired communication chains or ubiquitous sensing networks as well as various applications to connect people and things. These technologies provide high quality of life and efficient urban management. Institutional infrastructure mainly refers to those administrative arrangements, which oversee the intellectual property of digital giants and MSMEs and their protection as well as arbitration and reasonable information flow. Institutional infrastructure enables the connection of traditional and digital infrastructure. In the latter case onshore or offshore financial infrastructure guarantees capital flows to meet market needs or finance relevant infrastructure.
In some cases cross-border solutions beyond single cities have also been explored. A large market index by integrating isolated islands or remote hinterlands is attractive to global suppliers and leverages capital markets as a catalyst. Besides, overemphasis on corridor development at the macro level by adopting ‘node cities first and corridors later’ policy has been discarded.
Whatever strategies are adopted to avoid censors or systems of fragmented and fragmented programs at the city level or at the regional level, a series of planning principles including ‘centralized construction and infrastructure sharing’, ‘urban coordination’ must be followed. ‘Business, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Implementation Processes’, and ‘all life cycles of planning, investment, construction and operations’ should be addressed.
A high quality top level smart city plan is essential in any of the above approaches. The methods and approaches mentioned and suggested in this article should be substantiated by case studies published in Asia’s Smart City Quarterly Review-West Asia .
Case study
Asia will power the global economy in the coming decades, and this article discusses two possible scenarios in the respective fields.
Corridors are prioritized in the strategy for West Asian cities. For example, Riyadh-Manama/Doha/Abu Dhabi-Muscat-two-way route or Beirut/Tripoli/Haifa-Damascus-Amman-Aqaba-Jeddah-Zazan route. Rail connectivity is the key to connecting the isolated cities of the Arabian Peninsula. Global capital will flow into systematically planned areas rather than scattered projects. Because if this is the case, their interests can be ensured in the long run by spending relatively less resources.
A lot of infrastructure will be built from the Hindu Kush to the Arabian Sea according to realistic guidelines. Along with massive rail connectivity and fiber optical communication networks, the associated mechanisms will create a large market to cover the risks of the de-globalization process. Projects may start earlier in node cities, and then expand to larger areas. Basically any kind of technical planning or construction is not an obstacle in front of us.
If the Gulf economies cannot integrate Iran or Central Asia for security reasons, it consequently affects the whole of Asia. On the one hand, this requires the goodwill of the region’s major economies and that is key. Fortunately, Asia, on the other hand, has strong and insightful members and leaders.
For South Asian cities, where the main concern is increasing population density and employment in large cities, the strategy of ‘node-cities first followed by corridors’ has been proposed. For example, skyrocketing populations in the regional textile hubs of Chittagong (population: over 6.6 million in 2021) and Kolkata (population: expected to be over 18 million, as per ongoing 2021 census estimates) raise urban blight and employment concerns.
First, traditionally strong industries need to be revived. Applying e-commerce and digital logistics in marketing and manufacturing processes of textile products in Chittagong and Kolkata is essential. Logistics centers can be planned and built in suburban areas, connecting them to commercial centers through the Sundarban Railway or inter-city rail networks to make them livable and workable.
Second, increase digital literacy. Information on agricultural production or sales can be collected from village to village to increase bargaining power with local and international buyers. The function of electronic medical records is to connect hospitals in suburban or rural communities and health care institutions at the grassroots level. In agriculture or health, basic facilities including optic-fiber or 4G communication are used to share information on zoonotic diseases and nature conservation inspections. These digitized health, food and ecosystems not only provide a decent living outside the city centers by relocating dense populations, but also bridge the digital divide.
Third, creating digital infrastructure to nurture MSMEs (Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises). Kolkata as a museum city can set up venture capital funds to nurture remote human-machine-interaction systems to stimulate tourism. In particular with reference to the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor, DEPA (Digital Economy Partnership Agreement), CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) – jointly implement digitally most preferred policies or better quality in cities in Bangladesh. Building is encouraged.
Above all it creates opportunities for the financial sector. Data generated by digitized health, agriculture and commercial ecosystems can create a basic information-based policy-making system and build a capital base of information resources. This will result in a loan system, which can be used as a mortgage for small loans. In addition, increasing digital literacy is a prerequisite for high-quality employment. International multilaterals and private banks—including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the New Development Bank for the BRICS, or global medium or small banks—may be attracted to investing in regional open markets.
Conclusion
Here is an integrated programmatic roadmap to guide urban resilience, social well-being and global capital. A steering panel under the G20 may be needed to achieve this objective. All decision makers in Asia must clearly realize that there is still a long way to go. If everyone does not work together, it will be difficult to imagine when the century of Asia will come.