A whole-of-nation approach supported by strong cross-sector collaboration is vital in building sustainable cities.
KUALA LUMPUR: A whole-of-nation approach supported by strong cross-sector collaboration is vital in building sustainable cities, said Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming.
He said institutionalising city-to-city knowledge exchange was crucial to ensure lessons, toolkits and proven solutions can be adopted by local authorities nationwide.
Nga cited the ministry’s collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) on nationwide flood mitigation through nature-based solutions as an example of this integrated approach.
“Urban sustainability can never be achieved by a single ministry, a single mayor or a single agency, yet it requires every sector to come together,” he said in a statement issued by the ministry in conjunction with the Cities: Possibilities 2025 conference supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Nga, who is also President of the UN-Habitat Assembly, stressed that the future of cities must be shaped collectively as urban areas are at the frontline of the global climate challenge.
“Our task is to deliver solutions that are not only smart, but sustainable, inclusive as well as locally grounded, and Malaysia is committed to leading globally while delivering locally,” he said.
Nga said Malaysia’s leadership under the UN-Habitat-COP30 collaboration is helping institutionalise the urban-climate linkage to secure a global mandate for multilevel governance.
Within ASEAN, the minister said Malaysia continues to champion a more inclusive and resilience-driven smart city agenda, including efforts to elevate the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) to a ministerial-level platform by 2026.
He stressed that Malaysian best practices are also being adopted regionally, among them Melaka’s heritage-based urban conservation and Penang’s participatory planning model.
At the national level, Nga said effective urban transformation begins with empowering local authorities.
He also shared that at the 14th Mayors Forum in Vienna in July, Malaysia proposed three pathways to strengthen global city networks, namely establishing joint innovation funds to co-develop urban solutions and creating regional solution hubs focused on coastal resilience and informal settlement upgrading.
The third pathway involves adopting standardised urban metrics to enable cities worldwide to measure progress and learn from one another.
