Iskandar Malaysia Urban Observatory - Celebrating Partnerships

In line with the 11th Malaysia Plan strategy to ensure geographical balance in regional growth to enhance inclusion for the bottom 40% (B40) income and other vulnerable groups, the Iskandar Malaysia Urban Observatory project is a 4-year collaboration between Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) in developing strategic and targeted outputs to support a larger, ongoing initiative to establish the IMUO at the sub-national level.

Guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, the IMUO project contributes towards realising Iskandar Malaysia's vision to become a sustainable, inclusive and smart regional corridor through evidence-based spatial planning and policy making.

The outputs from this project serve as building blocks to empower IRDA to better plan and implement subnational programmes that are more tailored to the needs of the B40 and vulnerable groups, with links to the SDGs.

The planned IMUO functions lead to outcomes that closely ties back to the SDGs agenda, of which Malaysia pledges to adopt. It serves as a facility where urban-related data can be comprehensively analysed and made meaningful for application in regional planning. An informed urban and regional development plan in turn can address poverty, improve health care services and quality of education, provide opportunities for decent work and economic growth, and reduce inequalities through strategic industry and infrastructure planning, development and management.

This event is to celebrate the partnerships that the IMUO needs to succeed towards realizing the vision of planning & developing Iskandar Malaysia into a strong and sustainable metropolis of international standing by the year 2025.