03.06.2025

Navigating the politics of urban sustainability

Sustainable cities need more than plans. They need people in power who know how to defend them.

Every few years, cities across Asia and the Pacific debut a new master plan: zero-waste commitments, climate-neutral goals, visions of green infrastructure and compact living. Yet in many cases, by the time the following administration comes around, these plans are shelved or diluted. The problem is not the lack of technical solutions; it is that the political systems surrounding urban development are not built to withstand leadership transitions across electoral cycles.

At the recent Political Management Training (PMT) programme organized by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Da Nang, Vietnam, 25 young leaders from 13 countries confronted this uncomfortable truth. Over the course of the programme, one reality became unmistakable: if sustainable urban development is to become more than a buzzword, we must move beyond the illusion that good intentions and sound engineering are enough. We need political infrastructure, coalitions, institutions, and leadership pipelines that can weather instability and resist short-termism.

Urban sustainability is inherently political. As Marie Schroeter, country director of FES Philippines, reminded participants, "Effective urban sustainability policies must be politically courageous. Without explicitly addressing [the question of] who benefits from existing power structures, even the most promising initiatives remain compromised." Decisions about who gets housing, where public transit is built, and how resources are distributed are shaped by systems of governance and power. As Thomas Garbellini, a policy researcher and sustainability analyst based in Australia, noted, "The frequency of elections at local, state, and federal levels leads to policy instability. Sustainability projects often get deprioritized when new administrations come in."

Asian cities are grounding sustainability in political reality

These dynamics were echoed across the region, as participants reflected on how political volatility and institutional gaps manifest in their own contexts.

From Mongolia, Odbayar Baasanjav, a digital governance expert at the Government Digital Services Agency, echoed this concern. "A major political obstacle in Mongolia is the short-termism driven by electoral cycles," they shared. "Leaders often prioritize visible, short-term projects over long-term solutions that may not yield immediate political gains."

From Bangladesh, Uswatun Khushi, a professor and urban climate governance scholar from Dhaka, pointed out that instability also stems from weak inclusion. “The absence of inclusive urban governance leaves many behind,” she shared, “especially those in informal settlements and slum communities who are left out despite the best technical plans.” And while technical experts can propose ideal designs, they often fall apart at the implementation stage precisely because the political structures backing them are too brittle or fragmented to sustain momentum.

From Pakistan, Ameera Adil, a feminist climate strategist from Pakistan and co-chair of Women in Energy, a professional network advancing women’s leadership in Pakistan’s energy and climate sectors, offered a sharp reminder that not all global urban sustainability trends translate equitably across regions. "Bikeability," she noted, “has become a buzzword in urban mobility,” yet in her context, it remains largely inaccessible. She urged that we decolonize our appreciation of what sustainability means, especially when Global North solutions are celebrated without regard for their feasibility or relevance in the Global South.

From Indonesia, Andrian Kurniawan, Founder & CEO of Senang Eco Services, a sustainability firm working at the intersection of business and social change, echoed this view. “We talk about sustainable cities and inclusive urban mobility, but youth voices who will live in those cities are missing from the conversation,” he shared, pointing to the need to embed youth participation in every stage of planning.

This perspective demands greater emphasis. Too often, urban sustainability is defined by the vocabulary and aspirations of the Global North. We hear about bike lanes, green rooftops, electric buses, without serious reflection on whether these are viable or appropriate for the Global South. Participants from cities navigating underfunded infrastructure, political instability, and colonial legacies emphasized the need for local definitions of sustainability. Sustainability in the Global South, they reminded us, cannot be imported wholesale. It must be rooted in community needs, adapted to political realities, and shaped by those who live with the consequences. To push truly sustainable development, we must first challenge the universality of Global North blueprints.

From India, Dr Balmoori Venkat Narsing Rao, a medical doctor and the youngest member of the Legislative Council of Telangana state, emphasized that the success of sustainable urban development programs in Telangana rests on their political institutionalization. This goes beyond funding or innovation. These programs are deeply embedded in the state's political and governance structures, which ensures their prioritization, continuity, and effective implementation.

He shared several key initiatives that illustrate this approach. The Telangana government is implementing the Musi River Rejuvenation Project, which aims to clean the river and transform its banks into a vibrant economic and leisure hub. In Hyderabad, the Jawahar Nagar waste-to-energy biopower plant generates 48 megawatts of electricity from waste collected across the city. The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assessment Authority, or HYDRAA, is a statutory body responsible for disaster management in the city and is now being prepared for rollout in other urban areas of Telangana. These examples reflect how institutional support drives sustainable development outcomes across the state.

From Thailand, Akkharaphon Thongpoon, policy specialist of the People’s Party, shared how community-rooted waste management programmes gained traction only when local governments were politically empowered to support them. In New Zealand, MP Arena Williams, Member of Parliament for Manurewa and advocate for housing equity, emphasized the role of legislation and state capacity in ensuring that housing programmes remain protected from political churn.

From Kalimantan, Indonesia, climate-resilience specialist and founder of Borneo Urban Lab Kesuma Yanti emphasized that top down governance often blocks real participation. “Our voices are sidelined,” she explained. “We need participatory structures, not just green infrastructure, if we are serious about justice.”

Put together, these examples point to the crux of the problem: without robust political systems, sustainability does not stand a chance.
The fundamental task ahead is not just to roll out solar panels or improve public transport. It is to build political ecosystems that can enable these goals, ecosystems that include strong institutions, legal frameworks, long term budgeting processes, and most of all, leaders who know how to navigate power. Yanti added that inclusive planning must be hardwired into these systems, not treated as an optional extra. That is why negotiation, stakeholder engagement, and systems thinking, taught in the PMT programme, are not "soft skills" but essential infrastructure for any sustainable urban future. As Ken Abante, co-founder of WeSolve Philippines and a public finance reform advocate, stressed, "Systems are not just technical. They are inherently political. If we do not understand power, we cannot redesign what is broken." As Geamaika Marisse Manderico, a Political Party Regional Political Officer for Visayas in the Philippines, reflected, "From the very beginning, the justice framework matters. A strong leader must understand political cycles and be able to articulate sustainability not just as policy, but as justice."

 

Building transnational power for sustainable cities

What became clear in Da Nang is that technical solutions must be matched with political strategies, developed through cross-border solidarity. Urban leaders must not only act within their own cities but learn from others, sharing strategies, insights, and cautionary tales across borders. Pattraporn Kengrungruengchai, a Bangkok Councillor with a background in supply-chain management, shared: "We are not the only country facing these problems. The value is in exchanging perspectives and building shared strategies." This is especially true for young progressive leaders who face common constraints such as electoral uncertainty, limited mandates, and pressure from more powerful interests.

We need a social democratic network across Asia Pacific. One that supports young leaders not just as individuals but as a collective. Sudhir Shrestha, who works on poverty and informality at the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) and teaches Economics at Kathmandu University in Nepal, emphasized, "knowledge, support, and solidarity are the glue of this network. That is what will carry our work forward across borders." From Bangladesh, Uswatun highlighted that the network also gives marginalized advocates the support they need to challenge unequal governance systems. “This is how we learn to demand inclusion, not just manage exclusion,” she noted. One that helps them shape systems rather than merely operate within them. PMT’s model is a seed of that network that continues to grow, as part of FES’s broader effort to cultivate a regional ecosystem of social democratic actors. This batch joins a growing movement committed not just to local change but to transnational solidarity, strategic learning, and building power that lasts.

Without investing in political continuity, both within states and across them, sustainable urban development will continue to fall prey to political volatility. But if we get the political foundations right, everything else becomes possible. Our cities deserve more than recycled promises. They deserve leaders who know how to hold power, share it, and build systems that last. As Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh, sustainability and youth engagement advocate from Vietnam, put it, "Dare to do. If you are not afraid to challenge the system, to take risks, you can carve political space for sustainability."

Sustainability is not a project. It is a political commitment. If that commitment is to endure, it must be backed by more than good intentions or clever plans. It demands power, discipline, and a network ready to defend and deliver. That begins with serious investment, not just in infrastructure, but in leadership pipelines. Governments, civil society, and regional institutions must create long term programs that identify, support, and protect young political leaders who will carry these agendas forward.

And in the Global South, that political investment must begin by rejecting one-size-fits-all formulas. Resilient cities are not built through borrowed models. They are shaped by those who live their contradictions, who navigate their constraints, and who push for sustainability on terms grounded in justice, not imitation. For these cities to thrive, we must support the political actors who know how to hold power, share it, and reshape it.

Majahlia Coco Quimpo is the Communications Coordinator at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippines. She leads the foundation’s communications efforts, working on publications, campaigns, and strategic messaging across its programs on labor rights, climate justice, gender equality, democratic governance, peace and security, and regional cooperation. Her experience spans brand management, advocacy writing, and development communications grounded in the values of social democracy.

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Asia

Bringing together the work of our offices in the region, we provide you with the latest news on current debates, insightful research and innovative visual outputs on geopolitics, climate and energy, gender justice, trade unions and social-ecological transformation.

News