REG: Integrated and Innovative Solutions for More Livable Cities

Project Details

Detailed Narrative Description of the Project:

Investing in cities is critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda and ADB's Strategy 2030 Operational Priority 4 (OP4): Making Cities More Livable: Cities that are competitive, green, inclusive, and resilient. [SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities (goal: make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable); United Nations. 2016. New Urban Agenda. New York.; ADB. 2018. Strategy 2030: Achieving a Prosperous, Inclusive, Resilient, and Sustainable Asia and the Pacific. Manila.; and ADB. 2019. Strategy 2030 Operational Priority 4: Making Cities More Livable, 2019–2024. Manila.] This Terms of Reference (TOR) is a direct response to ADB priorities and those of its developing member country (DMC) cities. [OP4 aims to: (i) improve the coverage, quality, efficiency, and reliability of services in urban areas; (ii) strengthen urban planning and the financial sustainability of cities, and; (iii) improve the urban environment, climate resilience, and disaster risk management of cities.]

COVID-19 has brought DMC cities' onto the frontline and exposed their vulnerabilities. The benefits of agglomeration and economies of scale—efficiency in providing jobs and housing, increased density, lower mobility costs, regional and international connectivity—that made DMC cities the engines of economic growth in the region, have also left these cities exposed to the risk of COVID-19, making cities rethink their competitiveness and resilience.

As cities emerge from wave after wave of mobilizing emergency social and economic relief, they will look to identify new and more resilient job-creation opportunities and diversify, pandemic-proof existing infrastructure, and revisit masterplans to identify and prioritize projects like social housing, health, and education that will make them more resilient and competitive in a new-normal. This is also an opportunity to support them in identifying and prioritizing Quality Infrastructure Investments (QII) such that these cities can maximize the positive impact of infrastructure and build back better. 

Detailed Description of Actual Services Provided by SAMES:

The assignment involves three tasks:

(i) Task 1: Development of a Competitiveness Framework that responds to COVID-19 and resilience-related challenges.

(ii) Task 2: Application of the Competitiveness Framework in a DMC partner city.

(iii) Task 3: Recommendations for refining and strengthening of the Competitiveness Framework based on the application in task 2. [A parallel TOR will apply the Competitiveness Framework in a further two primary DMC partner cities, and task 3 recommendations for refining and strengthening the Framework will learn from this application.]

Task 1: Development of a Competitiveness Framework

a. Review existing standardised frameworks and approaches for assessing and increasing competitiveness and resilience, clearly identifying pros and cons in the methods used and their ability to target identification of high priority investment and interventions. This recognises that there is considerable practice experience in the formulation of city priorities through diagnostic techniques including the work of the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Banks of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and World Bank. [CDIA. 2010. City Infrastructure Investment Programming and Prioritization Tool: User Manual. Manila.; ADB. 2011. Competitive Cities in the 21^st century: Cluster-based Local Economic Development. Manila.; IDB. 2014. Methodological Guide: Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative: Second Edition. Washington D.C.; IDB. 2013. Annex 2 Indicators of the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative: Methodological Guide. Washington D.C.; EBRD. 2020. Green City Action Plan Methodology. London.; WEF. 2014. The Competitiveness of Cities. Cologny.; and World Bank. 2015. Competitive Cities for Jobs and Growth. Washington DC.] CDIA, supported by ADB, has substantial experience of prioritisation assistance in DMC cities and should be reviewed in detail. Other frameworks may provide further relevant insights. [SKL International. 2014. Symbio City Process Guide: In Search of Synergies for Sustainable Cities.

Stockholm.; and SKL International. 2012. The Symbio City Approach: A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Urban Development. Stockholm.]

b. Conduct series of interviews with city officials, developers, business leaders, and thought leaders to better understand how cities' competitiveness and resilience has changed post-COVID.

c. Evaluate how successful cities have been able to generate high-productivity formal economy jobs that can absorb the informal sector.

d. Reflect how the approaches identified in (a) could be revised based on the learnings from (b) and (c) and the impacts of COVID-19.

e. Formulate a framework for assessing and improving the competitiveness of a city that reflects (a), (b), and (c) – for creating jobs and growing income -- and includes a process for project identification and prioritisation. Discuss the conditions precedent for this framework to be utilized.

f. Present the Competitiveness Framework to ADB for review and comment and finalise the prototype for application in DMC cities.

g. Outline protocols for the application of the Competitiveness Framework in the form of a concise user guide outlining the approach and methods to be deployed in city application (such as screening matrices of planning documents, stakeholder mapping and prioritisation, an interview guide for semi-structured interviews, the approach to documentation and reporting, and outline communication plan).

Task 2: Application of the Competitiveness Framework in a DMC city

a. Conduct a detailed city stakeholder mapping identifying highest priority stakeholders (influence, motivation, capacity, impact) for detailed discussions.

b. Form a Competitiveness Framework leadership group reflecting priority stakeholders and responsible for guiding the work and testing the Competitiveness Framework through application.

c. Conduct semi-structured interviews with highest priority stakeholders identified to understand qualitative issues related to pipeline priorities. This will include: city political and government leadership, policy makers, business leaders, business and commerce associations, service providers, and strategic civil society representatives.

d. Adjust the Competitiveness Framework if necessary to the city context.

e. Review relevant documentation (such a donor sponsored analysis and pipeline projects) on the city context to identify gaps and obstacles in QII provision and the enabling environment. [Close collaboration with the law and management firm consultants will be necessary.]

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