Manila has been identified as an emerging world city in new research, but is being held back by weak governance.
In its Globalisation and Competition: The New World of Cities research report, real estate firm JLL said Manila has high potential, and is performing well in terms of attracting real estate investment and outsourcing activities. On the downside, JLL said the city also has more chronic infrastructure supply challenges than other cities above.
Transnational firms find these cities attractive as they expand their operations in South and Southeast Asia because of low costs and huge consumer market opportunities, however they also face considerable urban infrastructure shortages.
For cities such as Manila to capitalise on its potential, the first priorities remains leadership, governance and co-ordination – all prerequisites to quality of life and economic ambitions. JLL said they need to reduce the complexity of preparing, assembling and executing projects, which prevents capital investment budgets from being fully deployed on a year-by-year basis.
They also rely on national policy to devise more effective plans for the national ‘system of cities’, and formal recognition from the national level of the unique burden of being a large globalising metropolitan areas.
Emerging world cities like Manila are looking to attract catalytic foreign investment, the report noted, as well as to nurture indigenous industries and services. To support rapid urbanisation, some cities are witnessing massive expansion of their real estate inventory through the construction of impressive mixed-use schemes and trophy developments, which are seen as the hallmark of a modern city.
But as these cities move to the next phase in their evolution, the real estate sector will play a more pivotal role in creating a ‘sense of place’ and contributing to city identity, uniqueness and well-being.
As these are some of the world’s most environmentally challenged cities, real estate will be a key driver of more sustainable urban models. Improvements in real estate transparency also need to progress at much greater speed, not only to attract new capital, but to enhance the business operating environment and contribute to the quality of life of its citizens.
