ISLAMABAD: As the cities in the Asia-Pacific region continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, the population of people living in urban areas is projected to increase to 3.4 billion in 2050 from 2.5 billion today, a new UN report released on Monday says.

According to the “Fut­ure of Asian and Pacific Cities Report 2023: Crisis Resilient Urban Future”, the region has the largest number of people — about 650 million — living in informal settlements and slums, who are acutely vulnerable and marginalised.

A disproportionately high number of large cities are on the coast, under threat from rising sea levels and flooding to climate change, the report warns.

The report says as urban populations increase, the need for well-managed public services and infrastructure continue to grow. Cities must address these needs by tackling a host of challenges, including, among them, environmental crises and financial pressures faced during Covid-19 and the subsequent recovery.

Geopolitical tensions and the growing food and energy crisis are undermining prospects for a true recovery and are, consequently, placing the aspirations of the New Urban Agenda and localisation of the Sustainable Develop­m­ent Goals in the region see­mingly out of reach. Addi­tionally, high inflation is widening inequality and worsening poverty — making it increasingly difficult for economically vulnerable groups to meet basic needs, the report says.

According to the report, socioeconomic disparities have been exacerbated by unemployment and rising costs. Poverty has increa­sed, often compounded by inadequate access to housing and essential services. As cities grapple with the post-pandemic recovery, ensuring the equitable distribution of resources and support to the most vulnerable is of paramount impo­rtance to prevent the exacerbation of existing inequalities.

Developing the knowledge and frameworks for successful multi-stakeholder collaborations with private sector actors — remains a challenge for many urban areas. Lack of effective governance systems can lead to service gaps, shortfalls and inequity, while well-designed and regulated systems have the potential to substantially benefit service delivery and other basic functions.

More than 65 per cent of employment in Asia-Pacific cities is in the informal economy, which has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and is slower to rebound.

Two of the largest employment sectors, wholesale trade and retail trade, and the food and accommodation (a proxy for tourism) sectors, which together employed more than 350 million workers in Asia and the Pacific in 2019, have a large share of informal workers in their workforce.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2023