Annie Matan

Green urbanism in the Indian Ocean region

The world is facing an ‘age of scarcity’ which will challenge all cities to reduce their resource footprint, especially carbon, improve biodiversity and at the same time continue to create economic opportunities and liveable places. This is green urbanism. These problems are being understood and cities are taking steps to resolve them. Around the world there are many emerging signs of green urbanism. This is a time for the Indian Ocean region, with its unprecedented urbanisation, to demonstrate to the world how to create a different kind of global economy that is more sustainable. Asias cities are predicted to be home to more than 60% of the worlds urban dwellers by 2050 and Africa will become even more dominant after that. The growth pressures in the region are clearly now dominating global urban demographics, but is the Indian Ocean region part of the solution or part of the problem? The first signs of the green economy are investigated through the theory of innovation waves and seven archetypal city types: renewable energy cities, bioregional carbon-neutral cities, distributed cities, biophilic cities, eco-efficient cities, place-based cities and sustainable transport cities. The first assessment of the contributions being made in the region shows considerable innovation happening in Asia. The opportunities for the region to lead the world in green urbanism are real.