Prologue

Acknowledgments

This publication was conceptualized and prepared under the leadership of ADB’s East Asia Department with support from the Clean Energy Fund under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, Clean Technology Fund, Governance Cooperation Fund, People’s Republic of China Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund, Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund, and Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund. Na Won Kim, senior urban development specialist, spearheaded the overall production of the publication, with the guidance and supervision of Sujata Gupta, director of East Asia Sustainable Infrastructure Division and Manoj Sharma, chief of Urban Sector Group.

Dianne April Delfino, Gloria Gerilla-Teknomo, and Ellen May Reynes coordinated the development of this publication. Coordination support from Aigerim Akiltayeva, Chen Chen, Zolzaya Enkhtur, Dorjgotov Otgonbaatar, Patrick Zulla, and the Hunan Innovative Low-Carbon Center was also provided.

Contributions of project information and images from development partners and stakeholders are gratefully acknowledged. They are Baatad Altan-Ulzii, M. Solaiman Bakhshi, Bold-Erdene Bayaraa, Jusup Bekbolotov, Kerrie Burge, Hongjin Cai, Lei Can, Fengbin Chen, Seti Chen, Elene Goksadze, Jamoliddin Holista, Jun Huang, Xiong Jihai, Soóalo Kuresa, Salohiddin Mamadaliev, Ariunjargal Myagmardorj, Lasha Nakashidze, Munkhzolboo Purev, Liu Qian, Sayfullo Qoridov, Eldar Salahov, Surab Secreted, Rahman Shah, Tserendash Sugarragchaa, Yonghe Sun, Tuul Undarmaa, Kien Vu, Simon Wilson, Lubei Yi, Weijun Zhang, and Zhang Zhao.

Greatly appreciated as well were the suggestions and inputs of the following ADB staff and consultants: Rafayil Abbasov, Askar Abeuov, Tuul Badarch, Joy Amor Bailey, Kelly Bird, Stephen Blaik, Vivian Castro-Wooldridge, Christine Chan, Chenglong Chu, Alexandra Conroy, Luca Di Mario, Hoang Nhat Do, Marga Domingo-Morales, Judith Doncillo, David Richard Fay, Maria Vicedo Ferrer, Len George, Bertrand Goalou, Najibullah Habib, Mohammed Azim Hashimi, Shuji Hashizume, Arnaud Heckmann, Won Myong Hong, Cahyadi Indrananto, Rustam Ishenaliev, Satoshi Ishii, Ariel Javellana, Andrew Jeffries, Okju Jeong, Kristina Katich, Sarocha Kessakorn, Tristan Knowles, Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Jaimes Kolantharaj, Cesar Llorens, Xijie Lu, Declan Magee, Ali Rahim Malik, Rosemarie Marquez, Daisuke Mizusawa, Marzia Mongiorgi, Sumika Moriue, Takahiro Murayama, Alexander David Nash, Kiron Nath, Tshewang Norbu, Francis Mark Pascual, Wolfgang Pocheim, Arun Ramamurthy, Markus Roesner, Kristian Rosbach, Tomas Eric Sales, Sharad Saxena, Arman Seissebayev, Pushkar Srivastava, Raquel Rago Tabanao, Momoko Nitta Tada, Samia Tariq, Cindy Cisneros Tiangco, Joris Van Etten, Emma Veve, Johannes Eberhard Vogel, Ruediger Zander, and Baochang Zheng.

We sincerely acknowledge the valuable advice and comments received from the peer reviewers: Frederic Asseline, David Elzinga, Ki-Joon Kim, Virinder Sharma, and J. Michael Trainor.

This publication has immensely benefited from the assessment and design of Sustainia, whose team include Lindsey Chaffin, Lise Kjølbye, Kelly Lynch, Rasmus Schjødt Pedersen, and Jack Robinson.

Abbreviations

BRT bus rapid transit CO2 carbon dioxide GDP gross domestic product GHG greenhouse gas ICT information and communication technology LED light emitting diode MRT mass rapid transit NOx nitrogen oxide PRC People’s Republic of China

Weights and Measures

GWh gigawatt-hour km2 square kilometer kWh kilowatt-hour MWh megawatt-hour tCO2e tons of CO2 equivalent

Urban greening. Green spaces provide a range of benefits to the environment and the urban population (photo by Cao Shengli).