A more holistic approach is required to design, plan, and manage a Green, Safer, Sustainable, and Resilient (GSSR) dynamic coastal city by integrating effective economic, social, and environmental processes as well as their physical elements. Finally, it boils down to visionary political leadership and local governance. Is it simply a question of political vision? Of course, Yes. I happen to come across a good example of a planned city in India – Chandigarh. Chandigarh was described as a dream city of India's first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and in 2016,Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex was declared by UNESCO as the latest addition to World Heritage. The city is known for its best architecture, modernisation, and urban design. Sri Lankan coastal cities need to get a new gesture, new dimension, and new inspiration.

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) proposed a new definition for urban areas. A GN division is defined as an urban area if a GN division has a minimum population of 750 persons, a population density greater than 500 persons per square kilometres, firewood dependence of less than 95 % households, and well-water dependence of less than 95% households (IPS 2016). Eight coastal districts are among the top ten list of highest urban population in Sri Lanka (See Figure 2). Given this context and definition for urban areas, are the urban cities liveable and will we have a breathable and safer space for our future generation?

Many factors influence in determining a liveable city. It was reported by Economist Intelligent Unit that the Melbourne city holds onto first place for the seventh year in a row, among 140 cities around the world. The rating was done based on many indicators on five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.For example, stability factor includes the indicators of prevalence of social crimes and threat to violence/conflict; healthcare includes the availability and quality of public and private healthcare; cultural/environmental indicators include the sporting/cultural availability, level of corruption, and social/religious/cultural restrictions; education indicators include availability, access, and quality of public and private education; the infrastructure indicators such as quality of road network, public transport, housing, energy provision, water provision, and quality of telecommunication. I don’t aim to compare the liveability index of the cities in developed countries, but at minimum we aim to reach the minimum standards of living. The population density of few major cities is more than ten to twenty times fold than an average population density of a local authority in Sri Lanka.Most of our cities in the Eastern province suffer from lack of identity of its own, and lost in taking a shape for a liveable city. In this context, it is imperative that our cities are developed with proper urban design and modern transformations.

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