Source : Straits Times – 23 Jun 2009
BY 2050, 70 per cent of the world’s population – 6.4 billion people – will live in cities.
Planning, designing and building liveable cities for them is one of the greatest challenges today, said experts at the second Singapore International Water Week conference yesterday.
To encourage more work on projects for sustainable urban living, a $300,000 award – the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize – was launched yesterday by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar.
The prize stresses solutions that are practical, cost-effective and easy to replicate, Professor Jayakumar said at the opening of the five-day conference in Suntec Singapore.
‘In doing so, we in Singapore hope to facilitate the sharing of best practices in urban solutions among cities and spur innovation in sustainable urban development,’ he added.
More than half of the 6.8 billion people around the world currently live in cities rather than rural areas – a threshold crossed for the first time last year.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that key considerations of city planning included low crime, affordable and high-quality housing, efficient transportation networks, and a sense of culture and community.
‘If we succeed, cities can be vibrant, economic engines that improve the well-being of their people.’
Singapore could also act as a living laboratory for cities of the future, added prize nomination committee member, Dr Alfonso Vegara.
‘With over two billion people moving into cities over the next 25 years, the challenge of building cities to cater to the explosion will be equivalent to building 400 ‘Singapores’,’ said Dr Vegara, who is president of Fundacion Metropoli, a Spanish foundation dedicated to developing innovative urban solutions.
Mr Mah, pointing to the Republic’s affordable public housing system and the Electronic Road Pricing here used to keep traffic congestion down, added: ‘We are able to showcase solutions that have worked in a highly urbanised environment, some of which can be replicated in many other cities, particularly in Asia.’
The key to Singapore being a liveable and vibrant city was also its ability to build successful communities, said Mr S. Dhanabalan, who chairs the council that will select the prize winner.
‘A community is made up of people of different social, economic and educational backgrounds living together, integrated, sharing a common destiny – these can be built into the way a city is planned and built,’ said the Mr Dhanabalan, chairman of Temasek Holdings.
The prize, to be given out once every two years, will be awarded for the first time at the World Cities Summit next year. Keppel Corporation has come up with $1.5 million to sponsor the first five awards.
Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the event, Mr Mah said that for Singapore, its future challenges were to better utilise its limited supply of land, energy and water supplies.
‘The next emphasis will be on energy efficiency because it is one of the major constraints for us going forward, not just in terms of price but also in its availability and impact on the environment.’
CREATING VIBRANCY
‘We in Singapore hope to facilitate the sharing of best practices in urban solutions among cities and spur innovation in sustainable urban development.’ – Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar, on launching the LKY World City Prize
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