“Building Sustainable Cities: The Singapore Experience”

KEYNOTE SPEECH BY MR MAH BOW TAN, MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE ISOCARP CONGRESS IN PORTO, PORTUGAL
ON 20 OCTOBER 2009 AT 11.30 AM (SINGAPORE TIME 6.30PM)
Ministry of National Development media release 20 Oct 09;

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join you at this session of the ISOCARP Congress.

2 The Congress this year focuses on Planning for Low Carbon Cities. This afternoon, I would like to discuss the broader issue of planning for sustainable cities, and share with you Singapore’s experience in this area. Let me begin by setting the context of what I intend to say.

3 First, some facts about Singapore for those who may be unfamiliar. Singapore is a small city-state, with close to 5 million people packed into our island of just 700 sq km. We are ranked the second most densely populated country in the world, after Monaco. As a comparison, our population density is about 8 times higher than the Lisbon metropolitan area, which is more than four times larger than Singapore, but with a population of less than 3 million. Singapore’s economy is export-oriented because of our small domestic market. Our port is one of the busiest in the world, and we are also an international air hub.

4 Singapore has historical links with Portugal. In the 16th century, Portuguese explorers sailed to South-east Asia, where Singapore is located, to trade and later colonized some areas. Today, traces of Portuguese influence and culture can still be seen in former colonies like Malacca and Macau, in the same way as the British have in Singapore and Hong Kong, and the Dutch in Indonesia. But while the Portuguese ships took many months to sail from Lisbon to our part of the world via the Cape of Good Hope and through the Straits of Malacca, today it takes less than a day to fly from Singapore to Porto, and a few seconds to send an email or make a phone call. This is what technology has done to shrink the world and globalise world trade. But technology has also created new challenges for man, challenges which confront countries across the globe.

Cities and Sustainable Development
5 Today, the key challenges that confront countries across the globe are climate change and sustainable development. And the key to global environmental sustainability lies in building sustainable cities. Why?

6 Firstly, the majority of the world’s population will reside in urban centres going forward. For the first time last year, more people on this planet live in cities than rural areas. By 2050, the world’s population in urban areas will almost double from 3.3 billion to 6.4 billion.

7 Second, the rapid population growth and industrialization happening within cities pose critical challenges both for their own development as well as for the sustainability of the global environment. Without proper urban planning, rapid population growth and industrialization within cities will result in severe congestion and pollution, and the quality of life for city dwellers will decline as a result. Cities are also a major consumer of the world’s resources. According to the UN, cities currently consume about 75% of the world’s energy and emit about 80% of the world’s green house gases1. Hence, how far we progress in sustainable development and managing global climate change will depend very much on how effectively we tackle the urban challenges in cities.

8 Third, cities hold the key to new solutions for a more sustainable future. Cities are centers of innovation where new ideas and technologies are generated to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution from industries. Because of their high density and critical mass, cities offer opportunities to implement major initiatives, such as sustainable transportation and waste management systems, which can bring about a substantial reduction in our environmental footprint.

Sustainable Singapore
9 Sustainable development is a multifaceted and complex challenge. It requires cities to make tough trade-offs – between current and future growth, between current and future consumption and between material wellbeing and the quality of our living environment.

10 In Singapore, sustainable development is as old as our nation because we were forced, by sheer necessity, to deal with these tough trade-offs right from the start of Independence. As a small city-state with no hinterland and natural resources, we have to be very judicious about the use of resources, especially our land resources. With just 700 sq km of land, we have to locate all uses – housing, recreation, industry and so on – in close proximity to one another. We cannot afford an approach of “grow first and clean up later”.

11 Therefore, we take a long-term view to development, and this is reflected in the way we plan our urban development. We have evolved a long term, integrated planning system whereby various technical agencies in Singapore get together to plan our land use and infrastructure needs over the horizon of a few decades. Our land use planning process is a platform whereby we translate sustainable development objectives into concrete land use plans. We set aside land resources and plan for infrastructure expansions to support our growth, but also ensure that we set aside areas for greenery and to preserve our urban biodiversity.

12 As a resource scarce city-state, it is imperative that we industrialise and plug into the global network of trade to make a living. However, we are conscious not to pursue growth at all costs. Even as we industrialize, we put in place stringent environmental regulations to safeguard our environmental quality. As we grow and economic growth generates more resource, we commit to consistent re-investment of these resources into infrastructure and programmes to improve environmental sustainability.

13 Over the past 5 decades, we have consistently invested in two areas to achieve sustainable development.

14 First, we have invested to improve our resource efficiency. For instance, Singapore has made consistent efforts to achieve a diversified, adequate and sustainable supply of water. As we do not have enough land to set aside as water catchments, we developed membrane filtration technologies and invested in NEWater plants to “recycle water” from waste-water, and desalination plants to turn seawater into drinking water. Today, we have a diversified water supply from “Four National Taps”, that is, water from local catchment, imported water, recycled water and desalinated water.

15 We have similarly invested in effective waste management. As we do not have enough land for landfills, we recycle more than half of our waste and incinerate almost all of the rest. Only 3% of our waste generated is land filled, and we have developed a new landfill offshore, which, when filled up, adds to our land stock. And because we have taken special efforts to minimize the impact of the landfill on the environment, it is today a landfill thriving with biodiversity and affectionately called the “Garbage of Eden”.

16 Secondly, we have consistently invested in maintaining a high environmental quality. In planning our land-use, we deliberately locate heavy industries away from residential and commercial areas. We have put in place strict pollution controls to ensure that our air and water are of good quality.

17 We have also invested in a comprehensive public transport system to improve connectivity and invested in cleaning and beautifying our waterways to serve as additional blue spaces for leisure. We have also invested aggressively in new technology that can help us achieve even higher sustainability in the future. Almost $700 million has been set aside by the Government to develop Clean Energy and Water technologies in Singapore.

18 As a result of these efforts, Singapore is recognized as a liveable city today. The high quality of our living environment further reinforces our city’s attractiveness as a magnet for investments and talents. Hence, by seeking to achieve both economic growth and a quality living environment in tandem right from the start of our urban development, we have managed to achieve a virtuous cycle of good growth and good standard of living.

The 3 “P”s to Building a Low Carbon City
19 While we have been successful in safeguarding a liveable environment in the face of economic and population growth, going forward, minimizing the environmental footprint of our development will be another key area of focus for Singapore.

20 In particular, climate change is a key challenge facing the global community. Today, few would doubt that climate change is real and that it is at least partly caused by human activities. By the end of the century, global temperatures and sea levels can rise quite significantly. Every country, including Singapore, must act to reduce the emission of green house gases and fight climate change.

21 On its part, Singapore has sought to achieve a lower carbon footprint for our city in a holistic manner. I would summarize our approach as the 3 “P” approach.

22 The first “P” is “Planning”. We have incorporated low carbon considerations within the urban planning of our city. Firstly, we have sought to preserve and intensify greenery within our city, which serve as critical carbon sinks. We have safeguarded more than 3,000 ha of land as nature reserves and consistently greened our city. Since 1986, our population has grown by close to 70%, but the green cover in Singapore has also increased to almost 50% as more parks and recreation areas were built. Going forward, we will expand our park land by another 900ha and intensify greenery vertically.

23 Secondly, we have planned for a $40 bil comprehensive plan to expand our public transport network by 2020, so that at least 70% of all peak hour trips in the city will be made on public transport, which is the most fuel-efficient mode of transport. To complement this, we have planned for high-density residential developments and commercial activities at public transport nodes, to encourage the use of public transport. We have also planned for new cycling infrastructure and pedestrian connectivity in both our housing towns and downtown, to encourage cleaner forms of transport such as cycling and walking.

24 Thirdly, low carbon considerations are also factored into our district and town planning as well as urban planning regulations. For instance, passive design principles are incorporated in the design of our public housing developments to reduce energy needed for air-conditioning and lighting, while our new down town at Marina Bay is planned with a comprehensive public transport and pedestrian network and serviced by a District Cooling System that is more energy efficient. In the development of new growth areas, we have required developers to achieve a minimum energy efficiency performance for new buildings erected in these growth areas, as well as to make up for the greenery displaced by their developments in the first and upper floors of their new developments.

25 The second “P” is “Policies”. Singapore is an alternative energy disadvantaged city-state. Many forms of alternative energy, such as wind and hydro power, are not available to us, while solar energy is still very much more costly as compared to electricity generated from fossil fuels. Hence, Singapore’s key response is to cut down on energy usage. Our goal is to improve our energy intensity, or energy consumption per $GDP, by 35% from 2005 levels by 2030.

26 We have therefore aligned and put in place aggressive policies to achieve energy efficiency. A key fundamental policy is zero subsidies for energy. We will continue to price energy according to sound market principles to make sure there is no waste and to encourage conservation.

27 We have also restructured and liberalized our energy market. This, together with our policy of no subsidy for energy, encourages power generation companies to choose the most efficient technology. The proportion of electricity generated by gas grew from about 20% in 2000 to almost 80% in 2007. This led to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions as natural gas emits 40% less CO2 than fuel oil.

28 Policies are also put in place to achieve a lower energy footprint in every aspect of city life – in the way we live, work and commute. Singapore has established the Green Mark framework, which is a green building rating system to evaluate a building for its environmental impact, including energy efficiency. Singapore is one of the few countries in the world that legislate for new buildings to achieve a Green Mark certification. Going forward, the government has put in place $100 mil to co-fund retrofits with building owners to help 80% of our existing buildings achieve at least a Green Mark certification rating by 2030. We also seek to improve the energy efficiency of public housing estates by between 20 to 30% by introducing energy-saving devices.

29 We are also encouraging our industries to adopt energy efficient designs, processes and technologies. We provide financial incentives to encourage industries to conduct energy audits and put in place good energy management systems to enhance their efficiency, as well as to incorporate energy efficiency in the design of new industrial facilities and to invest in energy efficient industrial equipment.

30 In addition, we empower consumers with information so that energy efficiency considerations can be factored into the market for consumer goods. We have made energy labeling mandatory for household appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners. We have also put in place a Fuel Economy Labelling Scheme to provide buyers of passenger cars with fuel economy information at the point of sale, as well as special tax incentives to encourage motorists to switch to green vehicles such as CNG vehicles. We have also set aside $20 mil to test bed electric vehicles.

31 In tropical Singapore, solar energy is now the most promising renewable energy source. While we do not subsidize any form of energy usage, we have invested in an island-wide $30 mil solar test-bedding project within our housing estates to study the application of solar to our local climatic conditions. This will prepare our city to use this on a larger scale when the cost of solar energy falls closer to that of conventional energy.

32 The third “P” is “Promotion” – promotion of a low carbon lifestyle. We can only build a low carbon city if leaders and activists in the people, private and public sectors work together to adopt a less carbon intensive lifestyle. The public sector has partnered NGOs in Singapore to launch a Climate Change Awareness Programme to raise awareness among households and motorists on energy saving habits.

33 We have similarly worked with local community organizations to engage community leaders to promote energy conservation among households. In schools, environmental issues have been included in our curriculum to educate our youths on the importance of sustainable development, as well as the environmental impact of the choices they make.

Partnership Across Borders
34 Given its size, Singapore’s efforts to plan for and build a low carbon city will not make a substantive quantitative difference to global emissions. However, we believe that we can play a bigger role by facilitating the exchange of ideas and knowledge among cities on sustainable development. In this way, we can hopefully catalyze new innovations in both technology and methods of governance, as well as facilitate the adoption of best practices in urban development.

35 Hence, I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight that Singapore has launched a new Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in June this year. This Prize seeks to recognize individuals and organizations responsible for urban initiatives that display foresight, good governance or innovation in tackling the many urban challenges faced by cities. Emphasis will be placed on practical and cost effective solutions and ideas that can be easily replicated across cities. Nominations for the prize are now open until 30 November this year. The inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize will be presented at the World Cities Summit held in June next year. Through the Prize, we hope to facilitate the sharing of best practices in urban solutions and spur further innovation in the area of sustainable urban development and city excellence.

Conclusion
36 To conclude, I believe that cities hold the key in our global quest to achieve an environmentally sustainable future. By working together and sharing ideas, we can harness the full potential of cities to tackle the urban challenges of today. This Congress is a good platform to foster dialogue and co-operation as we embark on this journey together to build the sustainable cities of tomorrow.

37 I look forward to a fruitful discussion this afternoon. Thank you.


*****

1 “Cities and Climate Change Initiative: Conference Report, Oslo, 17 March 2009", Opening Statement by Dr Anna Tibaijuka (Executive Director, UN Habitat)