And many architects have described the city as “surreal”.

But are cities like Shanghai liveable for the residents and friendly to visitors? How will this and other growing Asian cities balance the economic, environmental and social needs of its people?

More than 250 experts, including many new generation architects, structural engineers and scholars from more than 40 countries gathered at Tongji University in Shanghai last month to debate these and other aspects of future urban development at the second Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, organised by the Holcim Foundation.

First held in 2004, the theme of the Holcim Forum this year was Urban Transformation. One clear message that emerged from the forum was that city development is moving from the industrialisation age to the ecological age. The forum’s experts and a host of speakers expounded on this from architectural, city planning and development, and engineering standpoints.

The paradigm has shifted, summed up Rolf Soiron, chairman of Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd. But the growing pains of the world’s cities prevail - environmental, financial and even political. The debate on solutions to these problems saw a light at the end of the tunnel, in vision if not yet in practice, especially of those participants from less developed countries.

From the big picture comes the individuals who live, study, work in cities. Ecocity might be a farfetched dream, especially for new mega cities like Shanghai, Jakarta, New Delhi or Bangkok.

Elmar Ledergerber, mayor of Zurich, provided an anchor answer to the very notion that all city residents aspire for quality of life.

So, what drives quality of life in a city? Ledergerber said there was no single answer, but as far as Zurich was concerned the three biggest contributors to its development have been competition between European cities, support from local residents and cheap money for infrastructure projects.

Zurich can claim a big success as it has consistently been ranked as one of the global cities with the best quality of life, alongside Vancouver and Melbourne.

Few Asian cities have ever made the top 20!

Ledergerber also highlighted the importance of politics in successfully building a good city. Stability is needed, and for decades. Constant dialogue must take place with all stakeholders. A highly motivated population which is aware of today’s challenges is also a factor, he added.

Where politics failed? Molly O’Meara Sheehan, senior researcher at the US-based World Watch Institute, has a ready answer: Trees don’t talk, children don’t vote!

Klaus Topfer, former executive director of UN Environment Programme and member of Holcim Foundations advisory board, warned against seeing politics as a quick way to solutions. Don’t expect politics to be what they should be, people have no patience.

He called on each individual to do what they can to preserve the environment and not wait for precise scientific answer or unanimous conclusion since that would be too late.

Topfer underlined the growing global cost of this era of unprecedented rapid economic development. He urged architects to design buildings that play a role in reducing the level of emission. This need should become part of the profession.

If the paradigm has shifted, what does one practitioner think? Peter Head, director of Planning and Sustainability from urban consultant UK-based Arup, outlined a set of foundations critical to achieving sustainability.

1: Future matters

2: Future of formed by current decisions and should be intergenerational equity

3: There are limited resources

4: Willingness to act on scientific certainty and not absolute certainty

5: Systems are linked even if we don’t see the linkages (harder always to convince politicians)

6: Success for a city is a collective idea

7: Some humbleness in face of nature is appropriate Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology at University of Chicago, said from the view of history of manmade world architects, engineers and planners all know so much more today about environmental technologies.

But resolution depends on collection of things to come together. She described city citizens’ demands for hospitals, green space, environment sustainable construction as a political process providing rooms for the bigger world challenge on climate change but how to get from A to B?

But playing down the reality of politics and its ability to transform, Sassen said historically in the material world, some of the most transformation effort did not come from majority but from a particular situation, incident or event.

For instance, before, a war often lead to changes. Now cities which bring together most advanced knowledge would they activate changes as we know that 60 per cent of buildings in cities have to be rebuilt if sustainability to the environment and climate change are to be achieved?

Sassen also said there is increasing demand everywhere for accountability on geographies of destruction. Now we know we are in a sinking boat together.

Cities energise such political space (dominated by big corporations) which social scientists have not yet learned how to use, she hinted of a possible solution.

Jean Philippe Vassal, an architect from France, gave fresh impetus to the new paradigm. Don’t demolish, he argued because it could only exasperate social and even environment conflicts. Rather, the odd and tamed apartment buildings,

which were built largely by the state, can be renovated to give greater space to residents.

He showed several examples how they could be done as the idea helps to maintain social fabric of the community whose members would be alienated if they are moved elsewhere.

Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Columbia, is arguably the most idealistic and innovative among his peers. He said the 20th century can be remembered as a disastrous one in urban history with more deaths from cars. Will we do the same in the next 50 years. Can we do something different, he asked.

For the flamboyant former mayor, sustainability begins with pleasure and services in quality of life. City is a mean to a way of life. Shopping malls put up to replace pedestrian is a symptom of the city’s ill. Lack of access to green space is the main factor of exclusion especially the poor.

The irony is evident in the conflicting transport policy:

Developed countries now work to reduce car use, while in less developed countries want to develop their cities to facilitate car use!

Sassen described the rapid development of Shanghai as a huge missed opportunity since the city has the scale to take the leadership in setting the emission level and to sustain it with bike pathway.

(The author is President, The Nation, Bangkok.)