Urban regeneration is a city planning tool that ensures sustainable and inclusive city growth, bringing back and repurposing underutilised urban assets like land, old railway assets and buildings. For the four typical phases – scoping, planning, financing and implementation – to be successful, engagement is needed with a variety of stakeholders and organisations.

Asia’s urban regeneration has not always been successful due to ineffective masterplanning and lack of private sector participation. This is especially true in urban transport infrastructure, commercial and tourism districts and green belts. 

India’s Chennai suffered a Day Zero in 2019 when fresh water ran out due to lack of preservation of wetlands and marshlands.  China has close to 50 ghost cities due to over-urbanisation. Indonesia’s Jakarta continues to sink due to inadequate infrastructure to cope with flooding and land subsistence. 

In Asia today, urban regeneration takes inspiration less from Western approaches and more from within Asia for additional relevance in masterplanning. For example, the municipal government in Shanghai worked with local private real estate developers to rejuvenate the Xintiandi area while preserving the urban fabric and city identity. Redeveloping abandoned railways into greenways is another major initiative, like the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway, which was the first railway in China to have been designed and constructed solely by the Chinese.

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Singapore’s waterfront was rejuvenated from the Golden Shoe financial district and Singapore River to revitalise the central business district (CBD) into the current Marina Bay. There are also plans to redevelop the former railway line into a green rail corridor.

In Sydney, the unused Redfern rail yards are set to be transformed into a new mixed-use precinct with a vision to create a residential, entertainment and technology hub on the edge of the CBD.

Meanwhile in South Korea, the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon stream led to the revitalisation of central Seoul, envisioned by former mayor Lee Myung-bak, who later became the country’s president.  

These are just a few of the many examples of modern urban regeneration in Asia. The key to managing their challenges and avoiding overdevelopment is inclusivity. This means community-building, accommodating changing population demographics and private sector participation. Planning and developing Asia’s future hubs of urban transport, commerce, tourism and green belts demands all parties and stakeholders be involved.

This article first appeared in the August/September issue of fDi Intelligence