What happens if we can’t create cities that are both liveable and sustainable? This was moderator Mike Ameko Lippert’s opening question to a panel of global experts at the inaugural ‘For Abu Dhabi’ networking event that took place during the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in February 2020.

“Liveability” and “sustainability” are popular concepts for urban planning and general public discourse, largely because they are representative of values, priorities, and behaviours to which many people and institutions subscribe. Although both liveability and sustainability play important roles in urban policies in major cities around the world, there is often a world of difference between the two concepts, especially as they do not directly orchestrate each other.

While sustainability implies moving towards long-term welfare of economic opportunity, environmental quality and social equity, liveability, on the other hand, is achieved through short term interventions and is constructed by the sum of the physical and social characteristics experienced in places—including the natural environment and a walkable and mixed-use built environment, economic potential near diverse housing options, and access to a broad range of services, facilities, and amenities—that add up to a community’s quality of life (as defined by Meghan Z. Gough).

In this sense, liveability risks constraining sustainability, and vice versa. Although sustainable urbanization is beyond doubt the highest priority of mankind, the “For Abu Dhabi” initiative believes it is imperative for urban development professionals to discuss how we ensure that sustainability is connected with liveability in practice - for the pursue of the common goal of creating sustainable cities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and to live good lives.

It’s all about community!
Although the panel represented different professional approaches, one thing commonly outlined their response to the overall agenda of connecting liveability and sustainability: The importance of creating the right conditions for communities to be able to flourish and take action themselves in pursue of a meaningful development of the city. Furthermore, this clear focus on the core role of community engagement to overcome some of the most pressing challenges in today’s urban development was also echoed among event participants as well as in many other discussions at the World Urban Forum.