Urban planning | Conference unanimous on need for quality over quantity

Urban planning needs to focus less on quantity and more on quality, a United Nations-supported conference in Macau has found.

Architect Nuno Soares, organizer of the Macau Urban Thinkers Campus (UTC) conference, which took place last weekend, told the Times yesterday that event participants had reached a consensus regarding the need in Macau for a shift from quantitative views of urban development to those based on quality.

“I was happily surprised with the consensus that emerged, [which was] that we need to move from a focus on quantity to quality,” he said.

“Too much focus in Macau has been put on quantitative analysis – how much the economy grew, how fast the population is growing – but what about the quality of life? We are not doing so well in terms of cultural facilities, healthcare and education,” added Soares.

The UTC is an initiative of the UN-Habitat’s World Urban Campaign, conceived as an open platform for critical debate on how to tackle urbanization challenges and achieve more sustainable urban development. The conference was one of 27 such events held around the world this year, with the MSAR specifically selected by the United Nations as a participant- host.

Stakeholders, including those from academia and the government, gathered for the one-day event to discuss four principal topics under the overarching theme of “density for the common good” – namely, urban prosperity, innovation and sustainability; climate change and resilience; public spaces; and housing.

Macau is already the most densely populated jurisdiction in the world at almost 21,400 people per square kilometer (sqkm). According to government forecasts, population density will rise to 24,150 per sqkm by 2030, even after the inclusion of the reclaimed urban land projects.

High urban density is often considered an impediment to a high quality of life, as it usually entails a scarcity of supply. However, Soares says that Macau has a lot to teach the world about the benefits that a high population density city can deliver.

“We want to share the positive side of our urban density with the United Nations campaign,” he told the Times. For example, he said, “we spend less energy in Macau in terms of transport, because we live in close proximity. We also all live close to a hospital and have many universities.”

Moreover, Macau is largely without “spatial segregation” in that most districts of the city (with the possible exception of Cotai) are used for both commercial and residential purposes and house  residents of different economic status.

The ideas that came from the one-day conference are currently being compiled in a document that will be delivered to the United Nations as well as the Macau SAR government. Soares expects the document to be ready for circulation in early January. DB