Sean Crowley: Hi everyone and thanks for joining us!

I'm Sean Crowley from ADB's Department of External Relations and I'll be moderating this two-hour chat session with the co-author of Green Urbanization in Asia, development economist Guanghua Wan.

Here's the opening question from Tengku Noor Shamsiah in Singapore:

What is the current status of green urbanization in Asia, and so far which country is taking the lead in promoting this important trend?

Guanghua Wan: Green urbanization is gaining popularity. In Asia, Singapore and the Republic of Korea are actively implementing this strategy.

Sean Crowley: What, in reality can be done to deal with slums in Asia's growing megacities? Please cite some recent examples of urban planning that has successfully dealt with slum areas.

- Janice Reed, London

Guanghua Wan: The key is for NATIONAL government to take active roles in eradicating slums. We proposed three policy options in KI 2012

Guanghua Wan: 1. Give land title to long-term slum dwellers; 2. Issue duration-indexed voucher for housing; and 3. provide public services to slums

Johan Enqvist, Stockholm: Hello Mr. Guanhua Wan. I'm a PhD student looking at the management of urban greenery in Bangalore, India. What would you say are the incentives for Asian cities to "go green" today? Is sustainability a matter of planning for the future or are there economic or other benefits involved also in a shorter time frame?

Guanghua Wan: In the long run, cities must be green to be competitive. This is particularly important for some developing countries which already face or are soon to face the challenges of aging

RRono: Could you enlighten me more on the first policy option (i.e., give land title to long-term slum dwellers)?

Guanghua Wan: The land occupied by slum dwellers is usually state or privately owned. Because residents do not own the land, they have no incentive to improve infrastructure or the living environment

Cecile: Singapore and the Republic of Korea are more developed compared to other countries in Asia. With limited resources and more socio-economic challenges, how can developing countries in the region convert existing urban center to green cities? Which must be a top priority?

Guanghua Wan: the top priority is to pricing environmental externality into resources such as congestion pricing in Singapore, increasing block tariff in Manila.

Guanghua Wan: This can be done by both developing and developed countries and in existing and new cities

Bunyod Avliyokulov, CER: Hello Mr. Wan. I'm a researcher at Center for Economic Research, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. What in your opinion are key urbanization challenges in Central Asia and what policies should national governments adopt to manage them? Thank you.

Guanghua Wan: Central Asian countries typically have smaller population and high concentration of urban population in the capital city, so it is quite crucial to manage mass public transport

Toni: Hi, can you cite examples regarding pricing environmental externality into resources? Also, how can we get people/companies to be engaged to such project (mobilization wise)?

Guanghua Wan: Singapore/London have in place a congestion charge. Manila has increasing block water tariffs

Guanghua Wan: Government must introduce regulations and standards to facilitate externality pricing

Guanghua Wan: Taxing petrol is also one form of externality pricing although this is not explicit

Neha: Hi I'm Neha Sethi and I work for a business newspaper in India and write on urbanisation issues in India. What are the key urbanisation challenges in front of a country like India Mr Wan?

Guanghua Wan: For India the major challenges include job creation and how to help the massive amount of migrants

Sean Crowley: I'd like to ask the question of how to avoid or reverse the trend towards megacities, for instance by creating viable, livable non-mega cities (magnitude in order of hundreds of thousands). In my opinion, the ever-continuing growth of megacities is too much taken for granted in spite of pressures building up in these cities.

- Prof. Dano Roelvink, Netherlands

Guanghua Wan: The key issue which must be addressed is: can small cities survive in this region?

Guanghua Wan: There are evidences saying no

Guanghua Wan: I am not sure if Asia can avoid megacities. PRC has been promoting medium and small cities for decades with little success

Guanghua Wan: In KI 2012, we propose to link megacities with satellite cities by light rail or metro, not heavily relying on highways

Neha: So sir my follow up question is how can India deal with the migration issue? Are there international examples which we can follow?

Guanghua Wan: No country in the past faced the magnitude of migration as in PRC and India, thus it is hard to find good examples. But managing the flow of migrants as in PRC can provide some good experiences and lessons for India

C Borgstrom Hansson, WWF: WWF is this year testing the first international pilot of an initiative called Earth Hour City Challenge (www.panda.org/citychallenge) which challenges cities to demonstrate leadership for low carbon development and the transition towards a sustainable and renewable global economy, What role do you think Asian cities can play in this transition and what are the greatest challenges?

Guanghua Wan: The greatest challenges lie in political will and financing

Guanghua Wan: Many Asian cities are short of funding and there are resistance to environmental regulations and standards

Guanghua Wan: But some Asian cities are already embarking on a green path

C Borgstrom Hansson, WWF: Thank you Dr Wan, and my follow-up question would be what could be done to increase political will and access to capital where needed?

Guanghua Wan: This is a very good question. I think education and public awareness campaign can help

Sean Crowley: If more people live in urban areas, what new dangers can we expect in terms of: epidemics; law and order, global warming and something as simple as mass movement of people e.g. around holiday times (see further the challenges posed in PRC around New Year)?

- John Honney, ILO Philippines

Guanghua Wan: The more pressing issue when you have lots of people in cities is vulnerability to natural disasters

Guanghua Wan: Prevention and proper city planning with these issues in mind would be useful

Johan Enqvist: I have a question related to your answer to Mr Honney's question: Much of the "green" talk so far (in this discussion) has focused on reducing cities' environmental impact such as emissions, limiting the negative effects on surrounding areas. What about the urban ecosystems and provision of ecosystem services within cities like water regulation, air purification and cooling? Are Asias megacities also green, in a literal sense?

Guanghua Wan: yes, we definitely support eco-city and circular economy and similar concepts

Guanghua Wan: In KI 2012, we provided several good examples on this

Guanghua Wan: Not all Asian megacities are green but Tokyo is green and some other cities are becoming greener over time

Hai Nguyen: Hi Mr. Wan, i am from exp. international inc., a Canadian company, with branch office in Vietnam. What is the actual status of green urbanization in Vietnam? Is this country presently involved in the program?

Guanghua Wan: There is no program called green urbanization. I believe Vietnam also face daunting challenges with fast migration and urbanization

Christiane Kuehl, Beijing: Dear Mr Wan, my name is Christiane Kuehl, I am a China correspondent of Financial Times Germany - China has a lot of plans how to foster green urbanization. Which of its megacities do you think has implemented the best strategy (many say Shanghai, would you agree?)? And why, could you give an example of a good green policy?

Guanghua Wan: I agree Shanghai is doing well. It is partly due to the emphasis of city government, but also to the abundant financial status of Shanghai

Bunyod Avliyokulov, CER: As a follow up question, given the growing pressure on capitals in Central Asia, should national governments focus on enhancing absorption capacities of small and medium cities?

Guanghua Wan: Shanghai actively constructed metros, it now has the largest metro system in the world

Guanghua Wan: For Central Asian countries, it is not clear the small cities can survive in the long run

Neha: Mr Wan, would there be examples of Indian cities which are growing green according to your standards?

Guanghua Wan: New Delhi is taking actions to promote green urbanization

Guanghua Wan: although progress is perhaps slow relative to what we would like to see

Guanghua Wan: On city sizes, there is a trade-off between economic efficiency or growth and environmental quality

Guanghua Wan: Please see Boxes 5 and 10 in KI 2012

Guest: What do you think about MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) in country like India like Metro trains and elevated express ways, which spoils the greenery of the metro cities in India?

Guanghua Wan: Mass RTS is an efficient way to move people. How to preserve green space when constructing such infrastructure is obviously an issue worth considerable attention

Guanghua Wan: One can ask the counterfactual question: what would happen if such RTS is absent?

Sean Crowley: Shanghai is listed as one of Asia's cities expected to grow the fastest. It already has a notoriously wide income gap and high per-capita emissions, even by global standards. At the same time, it's an old city, so there's no starting from scratch. So how should policymakers approach a case like Shanghai?

- Olivia Boyd, China Dialogue, London

Guanghua Wan: Old cities can be transformed, not rebuilt, exactly as happened in Shanghai. But expansion of megacities can take the green path

Guanghua Wan: Shanghai is doing well on both

Toni: For countries like the Philippines, a lot of natural disasters and political issues occur. How do you think can government and private units work on green urbanization considering that they are prioritizing on resolving the current concerns in the country?

Guanghua Wan: Political will and accountability are important in this context

Karen Palmer: Marce Ferrano is asking via Twitter: What about Manila? It has poor urban planning, overpopulation, traffic and many more issues. What can it do?

Guanghua Wan: There are good examples in the Philippines such as increasing block water tariff in Manila and the waste-to-energy plant in Puerto Princesa

Guanghua Wan: Manila needs to enhance mass public transport and encourage population to settle in satellite cities

Guanghua Wan: The key is to raise mobility within and between cities

Guanghua Wan: Lots more can be done in Manila on both

Nara: Hello. I work for UNEP in Europe and am from Monglia myself. I would like to know your interest in collaborating to make Ulaanbaatar a green capital. With thanks and best regards.

Guanghua Wan: Ulaanbaatar is one of the most polluted cities and also has slums

Guanghua Wan: ADB has been working with the government to address the slum problem and other city development issues

Guanghua Wan: You are welcome to contact our East Asia Department for joint work

Laurice: What kind of technological solutions must be adopted to facilitate green urbanization in the Asian Region? I understand there are a lot of sectors that need work: transport, energy, water, among others. But which do you think is the most important and merits the highest priority (in terms of funding)?

Guanghua Wan: in the short-run, transport requires urgent attention as urban population built up. In the long run, clean energy is the solution

Sean Crowley: Urbanization means increased demands on cities and infrastructure and a greater demand for property. These require public and private participation. Are there any examples we can use as models when looking at PPP's in Asia/S. Asia and if so, what lessons can we apply in the future?

- Brandon Sedloff, Urban Land Institute, Hong Kong, China

Guanghua Wan: The waste-to-energy plant in the Philippines is a good example of PPT

Guanghua Wan: The project was a joint effort of Puerto Princesa city government and Bio-Science Company

Christiane Kuehl, Beijing: One more question on China's cities - do you know of cities which actively work on enhancing the share of renewable energy in their local electricity or energy mix? Any example would be welcome! Many thanks

Guanghua Wan: there are a few cities in PRC moving towards green path: Baoding, Nanjing and Caofeidian are all experimenting

Laurice: Thank you. Two follow up questions, please: (i) For transport, which would you recommend more - light rails or bus rapid transits? (ii) By clean energy, do you mean just production? Or would this also include energy efficiency and sustainability?

Guanghua Wan: light rail requires some investment, but rapid transit can be done relatively with little cost

Guanghua Wan: On energy, we equally emphasize both prodution/supply side and demand/consumption side

Christiane Kuehl, Beijing: Do you have an example of how they're doing this - what kind of experiments are they conducting?

Guanghua Wan: In Caofeidian they attempt to reduce water/electricity consumption

Guanghua Wan: In Baoding, they strive to develop green technologies

Sean Crowley: There has been a prediction that Bangkok won't exist in 50 years, to be submerged in water as sea level rises. Does ADB still believe that this will happen unless urgent action is taken? What are the most necessary actions?

- Achara Deboonme, Bangkok

Guanghua Wan: Sea level rise is a serious threat which will happen under business as usual scenario. The necessary actions include timely introduction of regulations and standards, adopting new technologies and fully use market mechanism (such as pollution pricing).

Laurice: Thanks again. Another question: Can the use of smart grid technology help facilitate "externality pricing"? How so?

Guanghua Wan: smart grid allows dynamic and real time pricing so it can facilitate externality pricing

Guanghua Wan: The system can monitor supply and consumption on a real-time basis

Hai Nguyen: Do you have any suggested strategy to solve the daunting challenges with fast migration and urbanization in Viet Nam?

Guanghua Wan: Viet Nam has a household registration system, which can be used to smooth population flow

Guanghua Wan: while migration shall not be discouraged, managing the flow is very important

Guanghua Wan: In this context, employment and housing are the key areas of government attention

Hai Nguyen: Thank you very much Mr. Wan. How can i have a copy or review of all the questions and answer in this session?

Christiane Kuehl, Beijing: I'd also be interested in a copy

Guanghua Wan: Mr Sean Crowley can help you on this

Sean Crowley: When it comes to resources, are some cities simply in the wrong place? – e.g. the water-scarce cities of northern China or the flood-exposed coastal metropolises. Should we see our city locations as immutable or in the long-term will migration have to be part of the solution?

- Olivia Boyd, China Dialogue, London

Guanghua Wan: This is a regional planning issue closely related to urbanization

Guanghua Wan: Migration is part of the solution but can also be part of the problem, it all depends on regional development policy of national government

Guanghua Wan: On the other hand, if resource prices fully reflect social and environmental costs, market will help solve this problem in the end

Guanghua Wan: This is particularly applicable to China

Sean Crowley: Presumably the green urban development model you are advocating in an era of finite resources is just as applicable elsewhere. So does the development of megacities in Asia offer any lessons for other regions that are experiencing rapid urbanisation, such as parts of Africa?

- Janice Reed, London

Guanghua Wan: The model we advocated is based on our analyses of urbanization, particularly its unique features, some aspects may be applicable to other regions, some may not be.

Johan Enqvist: But will resource prices and the market ever fully be able to reflect the environmental costs? Wouldn't this require an understanding of ecological processes that we do not yet have? Should we rely on a solution that we do not know if it works?

Guanghua Wan: You are right that market cannot consider externality, this is why we strongly advocated timely introduction of regulations and standards to facilitate externality pricing

Guanghua Wan: Externality pricing has been shown to be effective but it does meet with resistance, so political will is needed here

Guanghua Wan: By the way, if done properly, externality pricing can also help protect the poor

Laurice: How do we quantify social and environmental costs?

Guanghua Wan: there are methods in resource economics to do that such as contingency evaluation method

Guanghua Wan: basically you try to work out the monetary worth of better environment such as how much one is willing to pay for better air quality

Laurice: Thank you, Mr. Wan. How can externality pricing help protect the poor?

Guanghua Wan: first, externality pricing typically come with increased government revenue which can be used to help the poor. Second, externality pricing can start with a lower price for initial consumption, and go higher as consumption increases. The poor usually consume less

Guanghua Wan: Thus, in a relative sense the poor gain from both

Laurice: I see, thank you. Is any country implementing this now?

Guanghua Wan: Singapore has been doing various externality pricing for a few decades and it is being introduced into other countries

Guanghua Wan: PRC is also experimenting at present

Sean Crowley: Dear friends, thank you for your support and participation! Despite the fact that we have many questions still unanswered I must now call a halt to this fascinating discussion. A full transcript of the live chat will be available on ADB.org in a few hours time. Contact me at: scrowley@adb.org.

Guanghua Wan: Asia faces enormous challenges with massive urbanization but if Asia can actively take advantage of the unique features of its urbanization by adopting green technologies and environmental regulations, the region can achieve a win-win scenario of growth with better environment. Thank you all for your interests and please support green urbanization in Asia.