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The critical role of urban cities and metropolitan centers cannot be overemphasized. Cities in developing and emerging economies in Asia should be responsive to the basic needs of the communities and be responsible for and be in the forefront of urban development, redevelopment and renewal. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in its website, succinctly captures the plight of cities and the challenges on Urban Development:
Cities generate over 80% of gross domestic product (GDP) in many countries of the Asia and the Pacific and are engines of economic growth that have lifted millions from poverty, but as they swell in size and number they are under increasing strain. Asia’s cities will become home to another 1.1 billion people in the next two decades as the poor continue to be drawn to better opportunities. Over 200 million now live in urban slums, a number predicted to soar to a staggering 692 million by 2015. Many cities are already struggling with environmental degradation, traffic congestion, inadequate urban infrastructure, and a lack of basic services, such as water supply, sanitation and waste management. Maintaining vital economic growth, while creating sustainable liveable cities for all is the biggest urban challenge facing Asia.
Urban development and redevelopment must be viewed as a strategy in attaining quality of life. It should incorporate inclusive growth, sustainable development, public and private partnerships, and ethical governance.
To close the 40th Anniversary of the Ateneo Professional Schools (APS), a Lecture Forum on The Quest for Quality Cities and Quality of Life: Sustainable Urban Development and Redevelopment will be held on May 27, 2015 at the Ateneo Professional Schools in Rockwell, Makati, Philippines.
The Lecture Forum seeks to provide a platform for promoting greater awareness and understanding of the challenge that we as a community have a stake in. The theme challenges policy makers, business leaders, professionals, and members of civil society to reflect on their respective and collective changing roles in a dynamic urban, regional and global setting that must remain anchored in goals of improving the quality of life of everyone.
The half-day morning forum shall consist of three presentations that will be followed by observations and reactions from a panel of reactors, and an open forum.
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THE ATENEO PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS |
GRADUATE SCHOOL |
LAW |
SCHOOL OF |
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE |
