Navigating Urban Development: Learnings from East and Southeast Asia

The world is facing rapid urbanisation and an escalating climate crisis. According to UN-Habitat, by 2050 around 70 per cent of the world’s population – some 6.7 billion people – will be living in cities, putting enormous pressure on infrastructure, resources, and the environment. The question is no longer whether cities and their regions must change, but how – and how to drive that change swiftly and effectively.

These challenges require global collaboration, which is where SURE (Sustainable Development of Urban Regions), a funding priority of the German state, steps in. SURE fosters cooperation between Germany, Southeast Asia and China. However, its goal extends well beyond that.

It aims to develop solutions that can be implemented locally and transferred to other urban regions anywhere in the world. Navigating Urban Development is the outcome of the SURE research project on moderation and synthesis. It presents ten case studies from projects in Cambodia, China, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The book concludes with a call for a new culture of transformative research to support the development of urban projects and initiatives.