Dr. Fraser Thompson on Southeast Asia’s sustainable urbanisation challenges

Dr. Fraser Thompson on Southeast Asia’s sustainable urbanisation challenges

Dr. Fraser Thompson, Founder and Managing Director, spoke today at the ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Forum about how we can create scalable solutions for tackling urbanisation challenges in Southeast Asia. Some of the main insights included:

  • 70 million more people likely to move to cities in ASEAN over the next 10 years
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has altered urbanization models, but not slowed its growth
  • The fastest growing cities are the “middleweights” (1-5m population), rather than the mega cities, such as Bangkok, Manila, etc.
  • These middleweight cities are at crucial inflection points in their development and require strong strategy support to develop robust sustainable urbanization plans
  • The ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Strategy (ASUS) addresses this gap by providing roadmaps for different projects, ranging from affordable housing through to integrated transport systems.
  • Translating it into impact requires a massive scaling up in capacity building with city leaders so they can use these technical tools.
  • While there are promising initiatives in play, most city-level capacity building programs cover 10-30 cities, but there are over 180 middleweight regions in ASEAN needing support

Related Articles

WHO Members Finalise Draft Proposal for Pandemic Agreement

WHO Members Finalise Draft Proposal for Pandemic Agreement

Members of the World Health Organization finalised the draft proposal for the WHO Pandemic Agreement in Geneva on Wednesday. The...

17 Apr 2025 Opinion
Digital Transformation: Modernising Government IT Systems

Digital Transformation: Modernising Government IT Systems

This opinion piece is part of Access Partnership’s  ‘A Digital Manifesto’  initiative, which recommends a framework to develop US global leadership on...

15 Apr 2025 General
Strengthening AI Skills Development under the AI Action Plan

Strengthening AI Skills Development under the AI Action Plan

This opinion piece is part of Access Partnership’s  ‘A Digital Manifesto’  initiative, which recommends a framework to develop US global leadership on...

3 Apr 2025 Opinion
Securing the Internet: A Conversation with Chris Locke, Internet Society Foundation

Securing the Internet: A Conversation with Chris Locke, Internet Society Foundation

Join Lim May-Ann, Director of Multilateral Relations, Data Policy, and Partnerships at Access Partnership, and special guest Chris Locke, EVP...

31 Mar 2025 Opinion