New Clark City is a new planned city currently being developed on a former military base in the Philippines by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and various private sector companies. The city is expected to be the country’s first smart, resilient and green metropolis. It aims to address growing environmental problems caused by climate change, by being disaster resilient in a region that has been heavily impacted by natural disasters. New Clark City offers a unique opportunity to showcase good and sustainable urban planning in the Philippines by enhancing public space availability, encouraging the use of non-motorised ways of transport and the creation of mixed use and inclusive developments.

However, the future development shows a lack of affordable housing provision, mixed-use planning and walkable neighbourhoods, adequate streets and lack of baseline data upon which to base strategic planning. The city proposes a development that is not linked to population growth and lacks strategy on how new public infrastructure will match the needs of the new residents in the city. There is also unclarity of how the new development will integrate the existing population living in the planned area for development. Strategic planning is significantly hampered by a governance system that includes many different actors involved in the planning and design of the area but which lacks a solid common framework that guides the development. The Global Future Cities Programme aims to address these challenges by creating a Sustainability Unit to create capacity within BCDA for strategic planning, sustainable urban development and monitoring and evaluation. A sustainable design of the central park will showcase the value of enhancing public space provision in the new planned city. A housing strategy will showcase how the existing community in the area can be integrated within the new city.