January 29, 2026
Ease of doing business: Are we ready?
The Philippines has made some improvements in its “ease of doing business” performance, but continues to lag behind most of its Asean neighbors, according to the latest World Bank Business Ready (B-Ready) report. While the World Bank covers 101 economies in 2025, up from 50 in 2024, the Philippines has largely maintained its relative position. We remain in the top 25 percent in terms of regulatory framework, around the midpoint in quality of public services, but in the bottom 20 percent in government efficiency. While individual scores have improved, our relative standing has not. In real terms, this means businesses continue to face the same delays, costs, and uncertainty.
January 13, 2026
Liveable Cities Philippines and Ayala group outline new road map for climate resilience
Liveable Cities Philippines, in partnership with Delivery Associates, a global consultancy that works with governments and mission-driven organizations to move from vision to outcome, recently gathered leaders from government, business and civil society for a focused discussion on how cities can move from planning to consistent, measurable delivery of essential services.
“Cities face stronger risks every year, but the solutions are within reach. What matters is execution. When cities strengthen their delivery systems, people feel the results in safer communities and more dependable services,” Guillermo M. Luz, Chair of Liveable Cities Philippines, says in the forum.
December 21, 2025
YearEnd Recap 2025
We’ve come to a close of another busy year at Liveable Cities and we’d like to thank the Mayors and followers we’ve engaged with throughout the year. In the last 12 months, we’ve been able to run our Liveable Cities Labs covering major topics of interest in urban management, joined the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge, and co-organized World GIS Day.
For the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge, we are particularly proud that three Philippine cities – Cauayan (Isabela), Naga, and Pasig – have made it to the Top 50 in the world out of over 600 entries and are in the final stages of evaluation for the Top 25 city projects in the world.
December 11, 2025
From Plans to Outcomes: Building Resilient Cities in the Philippines
From Plans to Outcomes: Building Resilient Cities in the Philippines
Delivery Associates
2025
Last week, in partnership with Liveable Cities Philippines, we brought together hundreds of leaders across national and local government, philanthropy, private sector partners, and community organizations for a critical discussion: How can the Philippines move from plans to outcomes and build truly resilient cities?
October 23, 2025
From risk to readiness
Disasters are becoming more frequent, complex, and costly. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) Global Assessment Report 2025, direct global disaster losses reached $202 billion in 2023, while indirect and cascading effects pushed the true annual cost to $2.3 trillion, highlighting that the full economic toll of disasters extends well beyond immediate physical damage.
August 21, 2025
Leadership and Liveability
Through our program, we have run almost 60 Liveable Cities Labs, each focusing on different aspects of city management and urban planning. Throughout the years, we’ve covered topics like public health, education, mass transit and mobility, infrastructure, flood control, disaster resilience, waste recycling, and a host of other topics of relevance to city mayors, LGU officials, residents, and the private sector. These hybrid sessions have attracted a following of about 60 onsite participants and 150-200 online participants.
One of the most interesting labs that we have held was focused on governance, held last July. We assembled a panel of four speakers, all focused on their personal and professional perspectives on governance.
March 20, 2025
Data and the City
Cities are basically the economic engines of national economies. Regardless of whether you are looking at developed or emerging countries, cities typically outperform their own host countries in terms of GDP, productivity, innovation, and creativity. Their growth outpaces the country they belong to. That should not really be so surprising since cities are the hubs of opportunity, innovation, and community. They concentrate a large population in a relatively small space, which can create economies of scale and efficiency. When well planned, power and energy, communications, water, transportation, healthcare, education, and other basic services can be delivered efficiently and affordably. Density can be good, when well managed.
July 18, 2024
What makes a city liveable?
What makes a city “liveable”? This is a question we’re often asked at the Liveable Cities project we run. Liveability can be a subjective matter for some – what you like about a particular city, for instance. However, there are actually some common standards which people use to evaluate whether a city is “liveable”.
