A park that stores rainwater, a neighbourhood designed for walking and a community upgrading its own homes: Southeast Asia’s urban future is taking shape through decisions that reach far beyond skyscrapers. As World Urbanism Day approaches on November 8, these examples offer practical answers to the pressures facing the region’s cities.
Also known as World Town Planning Day, the annual observance began in 1949. It brings attention to planning’s role in improving communities—a pressing task in Southeast Asia, where a 2025 OECD report cited projections of 90 million additional people moving to ASEAN cities between 2018 and 2030. That is a projection, not a completed migration count.
Making Room for Water
In Bangkok, landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom has demonstrated how public space can serve both recreation and flood management.
Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park uses a gently sloping landscape, wetlands, a green roof, storage tanks and a retention pond to collect rainfall. Its capacity reaches approximately one million gallons, allowing water to be stored and reused rather than immediately overwhelming surrounding drainage.
“No water that falls into the park is wasted,” Kotchakorn told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2019. Her approach offers a lesson for flood-prone cities: green space can function as infrastructure, although an individual park cannot replace citywide drainage and watershed management.
Connecting Journeys, Improving Everyday Life
Transport investment is another opportunity to reshape urban routines. Jakarta’s MRT Phase 2A is designed to extend approximately 5.8 kilometres from Bundaran HI to Kota through seven underground stations, bringing rail access towards historic commercial districts. The extension remains a development project, rather than a fully operating service.
Its wider planning challenge is to connect stations with affordable housing, feeder transport, shaded pavements and safe crossings. A railway’s usefulness depends partly on whether people can comfortably reach it.
Singapore’s Tengah provides a complementary example. Its planned car-free town centre places roads below ground, reserving the surface for pedestrians and connecting it with the future Jurong Region Line. Existing green connectors include the 1.3-kilometre Plantation Farmway, linking homes with community facilities.
Giving Residents a Role in Renewal
Inclusive planning begins with recognising residents as participants in development.
Thailand’s Baan Mankong programme, administered by the Community Organizations Development Institute, supports communities in planning housing improvements, negotiating land arrangements and managing collective finances. Options include upgrading homes in place, reorganising neighbourhood layouts and relocation where necessary.
The programme connects housing with infrastructure, tenure security and community organisation. Its relevance extends across Southeast Asia: improvements should strengthen access to livelihoods and services while giving residents influence over decisions affecting their homes.
Keeping Heritage Alive
In Malaysia, George Town illustrates why urban conservation involves more than restoring attractive façades. George Town World Heritage Incorporated identifies the conservation of over 5,000 buildings, adaptive reuse and safeguarding living traditions among its responsibilities.
These priorities bring residents, businesses and cultural practitioners into the planning conversation. Successful renewal must consider whether the people who sustain a historic neighbourhood can continue living and working there.
Sharing Solutions Across Borders
The ASEAN Smart Cities Network provides a platform for exchanging approaches to sustainable development. Its stated purpose is to improve people’s lives, with technology serving as an enabling tool. Denpasar and Semarang joined the network in 2025, alongside additional cities from Malaysia and the Philippines.
For Southeast Asia, November 8 offers a useful test of urban ambition: can people travel safely, withstand heavy rain, afford a home and retain a sense of belonging? The strongest city plans make those everyday outcomes their measure of progress.
