World Cities Summit in Singapore to focus on building liveable, sustainable cities

Joanne Chan Channel NewsAsia 24 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE: With half the world's population living in cities, governments face the challenge of balancing growth with environment protection and that's why delegates at next week's World Cities Summit will explore ways to build liveable and sustainable cities.

The summit, the second to be held, takes place from June 28 to July 1. It's held in conjunction with Singapore International Water Week.

As more people live and work in the city, more demand is placed on basic services such as clean air, water and even living space.

The challenge is to maintain a liveable city and ensure that growth does not come at the expense of the environment.

Dalson Chung, deputy chairman, World Cities Summit 2010 Working Committee, said: "A lot of people are going into the cities to live. So to make the cities liveable is the uppermost aspiration for a lot of leaders and to sustain it for the future generations.

“And of course when people go to the cities to live, they will like to live there forever. So although the cities are growing, we must make sure it's sustainable.)"

Singapore is rated as one of the world's most liveable cities, recognised for its strengths in infrastructure and governance.

As the host nation of the summit, it'll share its expertise in areas such as public housing and waste management.

It's also looking forward to learning from other cities.

Mr Chung added: “Melbourne has a lot of galleries and it has a very strong cultural background. Bilbao also has a very strong cultural background. They also balance the software and also the hardware. So these are some of the areas that we can learn from other countries and cities."

More than a 1,000 policymakers and industry leaders will gather in Singapore for the four-day summit, attending discussions and learning journeys.

Participants of the World Cities Summit who sign up for the Public Housing Learning Journey will be brought to the gallery at the top of the Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore's tallest public housing project.

The gallery offers a panoramic view of Singapore's skyline. Panel boards are also available to introduce the history and purpose behind the various districts. - CNA/vm