Opening remarks uclg aspac fauzi bowo congres 2012

OPENING REMARKS AT THE THE 4th UCLG ASPAC CONGRESS 2012 “Resilient Cities: Rethink, Rebuild, Revitalize”

By: FAUZI BOWO Governor of Jakarta

JAKARTA CAPITAL CITY GOVERNMENT TUESDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2012 Pages: 5

1 Good morning, Yang Terhormat Menteri Dalam Negeri, Bapak Gamawan Fauzi, Dear participants of UCLG-ASPAC Congress; Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Mayors and Governors of the Asia Pacific region, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Jakarta for this 4th United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific congress. The theme of the 4th UCLG Congress is “Resilient Cities: Rethink, Rebuild, Revitalize� summarizes the challenges cities have in the Asia Pacific region in order that prosperity is achieved, a central ingredient for peace in this region.

In order that our cities become resilient, we must be able to survive future challenges and in some cases these challenges will be extreme.

Therefore, our cities must continually rethink about how to survive, and how to rebuild decaying parts of our cities which can easily become dead areas within the city weighing down on development. Finally a crucial part in ensuring

2 our cities are resilient is to have the capacity and tenacity within our cities to be able to revitalize in a sustainable manner and innovation plays an important role in this.

There is no other region in the world like this region. As we are all aware, the UCLG in the Asia Pacific region is the biggest of the eight sections in the UCLG, with linkages to more than 7000 local government and representing 3.7 billion people.

That is half of the world’s population.

This region is home to great diversity, whether it be economic, religious or cultural. One indicator is reflected by the fact the variation in per capita disposable income in the region. In 2011 this ranged from US$34.739 in Japan, to US$ 8500 in China and US$ 3700 in India. Another point of diversity is the fact that some parts of the region are highly industrialized while others remain very much rural.

One factor which has been a pressure point in the region is the pace of urbanization, which is unparalleled by any other area in the world. Eleven of the worlds Mega city with a population of more than 10 million are located in this region. In the

3 last two decades the Asia-Pacific urban proportion has risen by 29%, this rate of urbanization is more than any other region in the world. This urbanization has resulted in growth, but as the UN Economic and Social Commission noted, this has also driven up poverty within cities. The Asian Development Bank notes that two third of the world’s poor live in this region.

One other crucial factor about this region according to the United Nations is the fact that this region is home to 45% of the world’s youth which amounts to approximately 700 million young people. If managed properly these youths can be an important engine in future economic growth in the region.

The challenge this region faces includes managing climate change, the increasing urbanization, and reducing poverty just to mention a few. For these reasons and many others, the Asia Pacific region has no choice except to become home to resilient cities. Certainly urban planning and building design plays an important role in facilitating the development of a greater capacity for future resilience but there is more than this.

4 Two of the crucial and basic ingredients in building resilient cities are already present in this region that is economic growth and a large young population. These two factors are interrelated and special attention must be given to youths with a focus on education and employment creation. The challenge is how to harness these advantages in order that cities are able to sustain economic growth and distribute this growth so that prosperity is experienced by all.

However, there are two crucial pillars to building strong cities. Preparing and developing infrastructure to be able to cope with the speed of growth our cities are experiencing. Equally important is also preparing the people that live in these cities to be resilient and able to embrace the changes needed to complement the urban planning. As the classical Greek Philosopher Plato said “This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are�. City administrations and governments make policies and manage cities but in the end its the people who really make and shape the cities they live in.

5 Strong cities can only be established and be sustained if there is good governance in the way they are managed. The foundation of a strong city is a robust and participative community, with a good flow of communications between its mayor and its people in its day to day running and future development of the city. Strong cities are democratic cities this includes democratic elections.

On this note allow me before finishing this speech to bid farewell to all you as beginning on the 7th October Jakarta will have a new governor as determined by a democratic election which took place on the 20th September. It has been indeed a great honor and also a great pleasure for me to be the 4th President of the United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific. I take with me valuable experiences which I could not gave gained anywhere else. I thank you all for the exchanges and also the friendships.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my conviction that this region is the region of the future. I wish you all luck in the journey of creating strong resilient cities in order that prosperity is achieved.

Thank you