Measuring sustainability based upon various perspectives: a case study of a hill station in Southeast Asia

Abstract

A hill station is a town or city situated in mountain regions in the tropics founded during the western colonization in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hill stations have moderate temperatures, and are known for their relatively good natural environments, which generate valuable ecosystem services that benefit the local population. However, rapid urbanization threatens the sustainability of these areas. This study evaluates the sustainability of the urbanization process of Baguio City, a hill station city in Southeast Asia and the summer capital of the Philippines, by determining the relationship between its velocity of urbanization and velocity of urban sustainability based upon various perspectives. From an equal weight perspective (of the triple bottom line of sustainability components, namely environmental, social, and economic) and a pro-economic perspective, the results revealed that the urbanization of Baguio City has been moving toward a "sustainable urbanization." However, from the environmental and eco-sustainable human development perspectives, the results indicated that it has been moving toward an "unsustainable urbanization." The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the planning of sustainable development for Baguio City, including some critical challenges in sustainability assessment and the applicability of the framework used for future sustainability assessments of the other hill stations in Southeast Asia.

Fig. 1

Location of Baguio City. The two maps above show the geographic location of CAR and the Province of Benguet, where Baguio City is located. Access roads: (1) Naguilian Road (also known as Quirino Highway); (2) the Aspiras-Palispis Highway (formerly known as Marcos Highway); (3) Kennon Road (formerly known as Benguet Road); (4) Benguet–Nueva Vizcaya Road; and (5) Halsema Highway. Background image source (bottom): Google Maps

Fig. 2

Population growth of Baguio City. The data used for the indicators of the TBLS are within the 1980–2010 period (between the two vertical broken lines). Note P1—Projected 2020 population using 3.32 % APGR (1980–2010 average); P2—Projected 2020 population using 2.36 % APGR (most recent); and P3—Projected 2020 population using 1.52 % APGR (determined based on the APGR decrease rate from 1980 to 2010). Data sources Estoque and Murayama (2013a) and NSO (2012)

Fig. 3

The Vu _R–Vu _S Cartesian plane for evaluating sustainability of urbanization. Source adapted from Shen et al. (2012)

Fig. 4

Comparison of the sustainability of urbanization based on the two velocities of urbanization ( and ), and (a) the three velocities of urban sustainability of the environmental, social, and economic components (, , and ); and (b) the four velocities of urban sustainability based on the four various perspectives ()