Citizen Centric Cities The Sustainable Cities Index 2018

SMART CITY THINKING

SHAPING CITIZEN EXPERIENCES

FAST-GROWING MEGACITIES

PART OFASIA LIVEABLE CITIES SERIES

GROWING ECONOMY

SHENZHEN

As Shenzhen continues its vigorous economic development, considerations need to be taken to nurture the co-dependent ecosystem shared amongst the GBA cities and ensure sustainable city principles are in its transformation plans.

Shenzhen ranked globally in the third quartile of the overall Index; Chinese cities generally score modestly across the People, Planet and Profit pillars indicating further opportunities for improvement.

With less than 40 years since Shenzhen was established in 1979, the city is becoming one of the largest Tier 1 cities in China along with Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Shenzhen is a successful showcase for China’s economic reform and with the backing from the central government, it continues to lead China’s advancement.

Shenzhen faces an array of urban challenges, the most pressing being rapid population growth. Currently the city inhabits 12.5 million registered residents, however the actual population is nearing 20 million largely due to unregistered floating migrants. This poses as a key challenge in a small city area of 1,997 square kilometers.

S henzhen ranked #7 in Asia and is a pivotal city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau-Greater Bay Area (GBA). The city is key in connecting the 11 cities along the Pearl River Delta and is expected to become an integrated

economic powerhouse, with innovation shaping its sustainable future.

#66

SHEN

ZHEN

European cities dominated the top quartile of the 2018 Sustainable Cities Index with the exception of Singapore representing Asia by ranking #4 globally, closely followed by Hong Kong at #9. Other Asia cities are represented in the bottom quartile of the rankings with Profit performance, particularly related to ease of doing business and output contributing to their weak relative performance.

Asia results

Our report also features new work on city archetypes and clusters based on an analysis of the citizen experiences of city living combined with the Index data. The four city clusters; Balanced Innovators, Post Industrial Opportunists, Evolutionary Cities and Fast-growing Megacities seek to profile the citizen experience in correlation to the Index ranking.

Shenzhen is a typical Fast-growing Megacity and the Index features 13 cities that fit this profile. All but three of these cities are in the bottom quartile of the Index and are in rapidly growing economies including China and India. Cities like Mumbai, Shanghai and Guangzhou exhibit significant inequality in terms of income and access to resources and opportunity.

A key challenge for the city is engagement with the citizen. A good example of this is citizen experience of technology in comparison to other city clusters. This is not necessarily a reflection on the level of technological advancement as some of these cities, particularly in China, have a very sophisticated technology infrastructure.

City Cluster Four | Fast-growing Megacities

As Shenzhen is fast becoming a leading global technology hub, striving to be the next Silicon Valley, the city is investing heavily in its cityscape, public transportation, water quality management, pollution control, environment improvement and social infrastructure (education, healthcare and more affordable housing) to meet the rising demands.

The openings of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge and the Express Rail Link mean a smart and resilient city strategy will be key to address the increase in cross-border traffic.

In this report the city has been profiled as a Fast-growing Megacity which certainly aligns with the GBA investment plans. Shenzhen is ripe for positive citizen experiences and great opportunities are ahead if the city can build upon its existing sustainable principles.

Weibin Xu Head of China South & West

The Sustainable Cities Index is a broad measure of sustainability, encompassing measures of the social, environmental and economic health of cities. It ranks 100 global cities on three pillars of sustainability: People, Planet and Profit. The three pillars are closely aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and track progress against UN SDG commitments.

Shenzhen’s three pillar rankings:

The three pillars

People

Social

Reflects social mobility and quality of

opportunity and life

Planet

Environmental

Describes management of energy use, pollution and

emissions

Profit

Economic

Assesses business environment and economic

performance

#55 #64 #70

Fast-growingMegacities

BalancedProsperous, healthy and has a good work-life balance

InformalUnplanned cities where citizens create their own services and structures

DisruptedFacing economic decline and needing to re-invent

Using integrated sensors to manage city services

SensingResilientAt risk from disruption and heavily invested in mitigation measures

AutomatedRun to an increasing extent automated processes and AI

EnterpriseAligned to the needs of businesses and their employees

Accessible Using accessible infrastructure to enable all people to go about their daily lives

arcadis.com/asia© Arcadis 2018

CON

TACT

John Batten Global Cities DirectorE cities@arcadis.comT +852 2911 2000

Weibin XuHead of China South & WestE weibin.xu@arcadis.comT +86 136 1012 3648

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