Global design and consultancy firm Arcadis has released a report on the most sustainable cities in the world.
The report, compiled by the Centre for Economic and Business Research, ranked 100 cities around the world based on the three dimensions, or pillars, of sustainability: People (social), Planet (environmental) and Profit (economic). Titled ‘Sustainable Cities Index 2016: Putting people at the heart of city sustainability’, it included an analysis of Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur.
Of these three pillars, Kuala Lumpur is ranked 19th under the “Profit” pillar.
What does the “Profit sub-index” examine?
According to Arcadis, the following items are measured as they are thought as indicators that can “broadly be thought of as capturing economic health”:
• Transport infrastructure (rail, air and traffic congestion)
• Ease of doing business
• Tourism
• GDP per capita
• The city’s importance in global economic networks
• Connectivity in terms of mobile and broadband access
• Employment rates
What did the report say about Kuala Lumpur?
“Malaysia’s current Economic Transformation Program (ETP), improving Kuala Lumpur and the Greater Klang Valley around the capital, has been identified as a key growth engine in delivering its national vision and driving continued economic growth across the country,” the report stated.
“The government has set a goal to transform Kuala Lumpur into a world-class city by 2020, one that appeals to both residents and tourists alike. Specific large projects are being implemented to improve Kuala Lumpur’s ranking, ranging from the 118 Tower to KL-Singapore High-Speed Rail and the Tun Razak Exchange.”
“The local city hall, DBKL, has also embarked on Kuala Lumpur city competitiveness masterplan studies and InvestKL is offering global businesses access to a growing workforce, a sophisticated business ecosystem, world-class infrastructure and connectivity, competitive cost advantage and a principal hub tax incentive that caters to their business models,” it added.
Although Kuala Lumpur fares rather well from a business perspective, it falls in the bottom half in the overall rankings at the 55th spot
While Kuala Lumpur has been recognised as the world’s key hubs for Islamic finance and has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it ranked 53rd for the “People sub-index” and a poor 84th ranking for the “Planet sub-index”.
The top three most sustainable cities in the world are Zurich (Switzerland), Singapore and Stockholm (Sweden) respectively. Meanwhile, Kolkata (India) took the undesirable last spot at 100.
The People sub-index rates health (life expectancy and obesity), education (literacy and universities), income inequality, work-life balance, the dependency ratio, crime and housing and living costs.
The Planet sub-index ranks cities on energy consumption and renewable energy share, green space within cities, recycling and composting rates, greenhouse gas emissions, natural catastrophe risk, drinking water, sanitation and air pollution.
The top 20 cities for the “Profit sub-index” in The Sustainable Cities Index 2016 list are as follows:
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. London, UK
4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
5. Zurich, Switzerland
6. Edinburg, UK
7. Prague, Czech Republic
8. New York, US
9. Paris, France
10. Stockholm, Sweden
11. Munich, Germany
12. San Francisco, US
13. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
14. Vienna, Austria
15. Macau, Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
16. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
17. Copenhagen, Denmark
18. Seoul, South Korea
19. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20. Canberra, Australia
