Which other Asian cities made the top 20?
Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. Filipe Frazao / Shutterstock
Asia was well-represented in the 2016 edition of Arcadis’ Sustainable Cities Index, with Singapore and Seoul vaulting to the top 10.
With only Zurich in the way, Singapore stands as the world’s second most sustainable city, claiming the top spot in the Profit sub-index, which measures sustainability from a business and economic perspective. The city-state also topped all other cities in terms of ease of business and tourism, two of six indicators under Profit.
Seoul, on the other hand, bested such European capitals as Prague (ranked ninth) and Paris (15th) to rank seventh globally. On the People sub-index, which measures quality of life, the South Korean capital rose to number one, propelled by its rankings in the health and education indicators. In the same index last year, Seoul also ranked seventh.
Sixteen of the top 20 positions on the main index went to European cities, with Stockholm, Vienna and London rounding out the top five. Hong Kong is the third most sustainable Asian city, ranking 16th overall. The Chinese SAR ranks second on the Profit sub-index, next only to Singapore, and third on the Planet sub-index, which ranks cities according to environmental indicators.
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“The Asian cities of Singapore and Hong Kong rank highly in profit performance, but this seems to be straining social sustainability,” the report states. “Factors such as the high cost of living mean these cities, sitting first and second in the profit rankings, place 48th and 81st respectively for people.”
Neighbouring Macau was adjudged 41st most sustainable city, tying with Singapore as the number one city for sustainable tourism. It joins such cities as Tokyo (45th), Taipei (48th), Dubai (52nd), Kuala Lumpur (55th), Abu Dhabi (58th), and Bangkok (67th) in the top 100.
Although beset by air pollution issues, Beijing managed to rank at the 83rd position, while Shenzhen and Shanghai hold the 64th and 74th positions, respectively.
In the Pacific region, Wellington was rated the sixth most sustainable city in the world, besting Australian cities led by Canberra, which stood at number 18.
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Source : property-report.com
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