The earliest humans were always on the move. Later, they learned that instead of hunting animals for food, they could grow certain foods and settle down nearby. This way, thousands of people could be sustained. This is how the earliest cities came into existence.
A city can be defined as an area where thousands, even millions of people, come to live and work. Today, the biggest cities extend several kilometres in each direction and house millions of people – the biggest, Tokyo has 37 million while the second biggest, New Delhi, has 29 million. Mexico City has 22 million people, equivalent to the entire population of Sri Lanka. Even Colombo, a smaller city by comparison, has one million permanent and working people. It would not be incorrect to say that the majority of the world’s population now lives in cities.
The importance of cities to the world economy and order cannot be underestimated by any measure. Hence the United Nations’ declaration of October 31 (today) as World Cities Day. The theme for World Cities Day 2021 is “Adapting Cities for Climate Resilience” reflecting the fact that climate change will have a huge impact on city residents, with hundreds of millions of people experiencing floods, rising sea levels, storms and increasing periods of extreme temperatures. Incidentally, this is an apt theme in the backdrop of the COP26 Climate Summit starting tomorrow in the Scottish City of Glasgow.
Cities worldwide are increasingly suffering the effects of climate-related disasters, such as floods, droughts, sea level rise, heat waves, landslides and storms. In Colombo and other cities in Sri Lanka, we have experienced floods several times this year alone. Worldwide, at least 130 port cities with over one million inhabitants are expected to be affected by coastal flooding and one billion people in urban informal settlements are particularly at risk.
Creating more sustainable, climate-resilient societies involves addressing a range of issues including poverty reduction, ensuring basic services livelihoods, the provision of accessible, affordable and adequate housing, investing in infrastructure, upgrading informal settlements and managing ecosystems. Successful, well-governed cities greatly reduce climate-related risks for their populations.
The general theme of World Cities Day 2021 “Better City, Better Life” encompasses these goals. Unfortunately, many urban centres have failed to invest in city resilience due to a lack of funding, capacity, awareness or action plans thus threatening efforts to reduce poverty and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Needless to say, it is the poorer sections in big cities that will face the dire results of Climate Change and other disasters.
“The least well off in cities and communities will bear the brunt of climate change in the form of floods, droughts, landslides, extreme heat, storms and hurricanes. There are more than one billion people living in informal settlements with 70 per cent of them highly vulnerable to climate change,” says UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif. “We urgently need investment in climate resilience and innovative solutions.”
Colombo and other cities in Sri Lanka must prepare to address these concerns now, if they have not done so already. There is no doubt that flooding is more frequent now. Repairs to Colombo’s ancient storm water drainage system are underway in Thunmulla and some other areas, but the authorities must examine whether such piecemeal repairs are adequate. If not, the city’s entire drainage and wastewater/sanitation system must be overhauled without delay. The fact is that the old drainage system cannot handle the demands of the one-million plus permanent and working population in Colombo. Apart from this, other flood mitigation procedures must be activated.
Colombo also faces the acute problem of traffic congestion. It has been estimated that by 2025, traffic will crawl along on Colombo’s roads at a walking pace of just three Km per hour. Wider roads and flyovers are only part of the answer and there is only so much one can do in this regard. Priority should thus be given to improving public transport options which will compel motorists to leave their cars at home and take the train or the bus. An efficient, clean, comfortable and punctual public transport system can indeed effect this pivotal change.
It has been suggested that going forward, only the import of electric vehicles should be permitted. While this will not solve traffic congestion per se, it will certainly address another issue – fossil fuel use and air pollution. A recent World Bank study found that South Asia has one of the world’s worst rates of outdoor air pollution that seriously affects the quality of life and health of the residents. If all the vehicles on our roads were electric, there would be zero air pollution and the economy will also benefit as the country can save on fossil fuel imports. It will be even more beneficial if solar chargers can be used to recharge the batteries of electric cars.
Another major issue for Colombo and other cities in Sri Lanka is houses. Despite the best efforts of many Governments, there still are slums in Colombo and suburbs. This is not only an eye sore, but also a serious health risk as the Covid pandemic has shown. The Government has unveiled plans to provide these dwellers with proper housing units, which should be implemented as soon as possible. Granted, some of these denizens are rather reluctant to leave their cheek-by-jowl shanty dwellings, but it should somehow be done.
Colombo and other cities such as Kandy and Galle need master plans that address all these issues so that they could be made more comfortable places to live and work in.