The road to sustainable urban development

AT the recent The Manila Times (TMT)'s Model Cities and Municipalities 2024 awards and forum, themed "Reinventing, reinvigorating urban living," leaders, advocates and experts came together to discuss the nation's progress toward building sustainable communities.Sustainability in tourismTourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco reflected on her time as mayor of Liloan, Cebu, where she had the honor of receiving the Top Model Municipality in the Philippines award in 2019.Garcia Frasco shared: "Apart from validating our work in community building and inclusive governance, these recognitions inspired us to soldier on despite the many challenges of local governance, which our mayors know all too well, and it encouraged us to expand our programs, aimed at innovation, sustainability and inclusivity."As the country's incumbent tourism chief, Garcia Frasco continued to advocate for sustainability across various facets of Philippine tourism, integrating innovation into the department's programs to support the administration's goal of becoming a tourism powerhouse.She said: "I continue to strive to bring a local perspective to national governance, never forgetting where I come from and remembering which matters most, strengthening the foundation of tourism through basic development, advancing its cause through innovation, providing economic opportunities to our fellow Filipinos and instituting meaningful programs that have a direct and immediate impact on the upliftment of quality of life."Sustainability at work During the forum, International Workplace Group (IWG) Country Manager for the Philippines and Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific North Lars Wittig discussed the evolution of work, highlighting the shift from traditional office settings to remote work driven by technology and effects of Covid-19.More and more employers and businesses have been embracing flexible workspace, which has also been used to attract and retain employees, said Wittig.He pointed out the challenges local commuters face during their commute to and from work, saying that hybrid working has increasingly been viewed as a solution to improve work-life balance, boost productivity and reduce commute times.Wittig also mentioned the huge gap between the average office workers' incomes and housing costs in the country's major cities. Hence, the need to shift to flexible working arrangements.With the flexibility of hybrid work, employees would have the freedom to choose how they work to best thrive in their roles.Uplifting the informal sectorAngkas Chief Executive Officer (CEO) George Royeca, one of the forum speakers, emphasized the importance of supporting and formalizing the work of informal workers as a next step to building inclusive, resilient and sustainable cities. He noted how motorcycle taxi drivers, market vendors, street-side entrepreneurs, working individuals, and among many other hard working individuals in the informal sector, have long been overlooked and treated as an afterthought.The transport company's CEO expressed: "These are the people who are the backbone of our local economies. Yet, they remain invisible in the eyes of the law when we talk about building model cities — cities that are sustainable, inclusive and resilient. We must also talk about the people who form the foundation of those cities."In order to build the right model cities and towns, Royeca stressed the need to reimagine what it meant to support the workforce, especially those who have long been left on the margins.