In theory, a megacity is a cluster of many cities and in that sense, Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are already megacities as they are now.

Davao City and Zamboanga City do not have clusters around them, but their land areas are so big so much so that they could possibly grow into megacities eventually. As it is now, it appears that the trend towards migration into these megacities is not going to be reversed, and this trend is compounded that the birth rates in these areas are also very high.

Given the fact that the already bloated populations in these megacities are definitely going to increase, our development planners should now focus their attention on the challenge of sustaining human life in these cities not merely for the purpose of being able to stay alive and be able to survive, but for the higher purpose of achieving higher standards of living for the majority of the population, hopefully even for everyone. The real challenge here is to be able to achieve equilibrium between poverty and prosperity, hopefully tilting it towards the latter.

By comparison, being a “smart” city is actually a higher goal than being just a “sustainable” city. The explanation is very simple, because a city could be “sustainable” without really being “smart”. In the absence of a clear cut differentiation between these two concepts, I would venture to say that being “smart” would imply the use of technologies that would make public services and facilities more efficient. In this context, we could even say that being “sustainable” means being effective, but being “smart” means being efficient.

The “green” advocacy is already well defined, as it pertains to clean air, clean water and clean surroundings. What is not well defined is what pertains to clean energy, meaning power sources that are reliable, renewable and sustainable and would have no harm to the environment. As it is now, there appears to be no awareness for what is generally known as “clean power”, meaning electrical power that does not cause electrical surges, and therefore would not damage all kinds of sensitive electronic equipment. Also implied in this concept is that the “clean power” should have no wastages, meaning that it is also cost efficient.

Many years ago, the Intel plant along the South Superhighway had “clean power”, but that also disappeared later when the plant was closed. Years later, when I was a consultant to the Makati City government, we were able to build a “clean power” zone within the Makati City Commercial and Business District (CBD) which was a project of MERALCO, but apparently, there were no new “clean power” zones that were built after that. As it happens now, power surges are causing problems all over the country, so much so that even Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) devices are getting burned here, a phenomenon that appears to be unique to the Philippines. This is the reason why I am proposing a “blue” advocacy, pertaining to both clean energy and clean connectivity.

No matter how “green” a megacity is, it could never be considered as “smart” if there is no clean energy and no clean connectivity. As I see it, clean energy should also include clean fuel, not only for commercial and industrial use, but also for residential use, mainly for cooking purposes. As it is now, everyone seems to be resigned to the fact that Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is the only cooking fuel available and therefore we should live with it forever. The fact is, we could actually produce biogas at the city level, and the blue flame that it produces is just as good as LPG.

Even if a megacity has its own fuel and electricity supply, it could also never be considered as “smart” if it does not have its own food and water supply, at least most of it if possible. Food and water would actually go together, because without water, food could not be produced. Aside from fresh water sources, a megacity could sustain its own water supply by way of waste water recycling, a process that could become very efficient if there is a good supply of fuel and electricity. Needless to say, waste food could also be recycled into animal feeds and fertilizers, if there is a system in place.

As you could probably see it by now, the “green” advocacy could also support the “blue” advocacy, and vice versa. The “green” advocacy could produce “green” energy, and the “blue” advocacy could produce “green” products, including clean food that are natural and organic. Just to cite an example, food is now grown inside buildings that are lighted by fiber optic cables. As another example, hanging plants around buildings are cooling these structures, thus enabling their owners to save on air-conditioning costs.

Megacities could make money and save money by adopting both the “green” advocacy and the “blue” advocacy. What is best is for them to converge these two advocacies into one seamless supply chain, so that one side would always be interconnected to the other side in everything that they would do. If they could do that, then they would certainly be able to sustain the life of their cities for as long as possible. In the bottom line analysis, it would actually be their capability to sustain themselves that would make them “smart.”

For feedback, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or text +639083159262