THE vision for Clark Green City (now called New Clark City) was conceived out of the need for our cities to survive. It is not simply a real estate play but rather a response to the challenges of our times. Four major crises drove me to recognize the necessity of building the metropolis of our future. These crises are 1) the 2009 Ondoy flood that drowned Metro Manila with an unprecedented volume of rainfall, which has now become the new normal; 2) the 2013 Super Typhoon Yolanda that devastated Tacloban and major cities and towns in Bicol and the Visayas, with wind gusts reaching 378 km/h and storm surges as high as 7.5 meters; 3) the 2013 Bohol earthquake that flattened Bohol and other towns in the Visayas; and 4) the unbearable traffic congestion and intolerable pollution in Metro Manila and our major cities, costing the economy P5 billion daily.
By 2050, the United Nations stated, 68 percent of the world's population will live in cities, up from 56 percent in 2020. This urban expansion is expected to add nearly 2.5 billion people to the global population over the next three decades. This trend poses significant challenges for infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and the delivery of essential services like housing, transportation, and healthcare. By 2030, it is estimated that nearly 90 percent of urban growth will occur in Asia and Africa, with countries like the Philippines facing rapid increases in population density and urban expansion. Japan, for example, has 91 percent of its population in urban areas, particularly in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. With its declining birth rate, Japan also experiences the depopulation of its rural areas, resulting in 8 million houses being abandoned, which significantly burdens agricultural productivity. The same trend is also occurring in Europe.
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