Singapore to showcase urban solutions at summit

More than 15,000 delegates, including global leaders and experts, expected at July event
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 21 Apr 12;

SINGAPORE is cementing its position as a centre for urban solutions with the launch of a three-in-one summit in July, when it plays host to global leaders and experts from around the world.

More than 15,000 high-level delegates, including the United Nations Development Programme administrator Helen Clark, are expected to congregate here to discuss a wide range of issues, such as waste and water management, urban planning and green technology.

Executive director Khoo Teng Chye of the Centre for Liveable Cities said at a media conference yesterday that Singapore has done well in integrating urban solutions that address these issues.

It is also keen to showcase its best practices even as it learns from the success stories of other cities across the globe.

Citing World Bank statistics, Mr Khoo noted that the number of people living in cities will increase from 3 billion in 2000 to 6.4 billion by 2050.

Policymakers and city planners are looking to solve problems in water, waste management, housing and transport while businesses are looking to take advantage of the burgeoning urban solutions industry, he said.

This year, the discussions will take place across three events, all held at Marina Bay Sands from July 1 to 5.

These are the World Cities Summit, Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) and the inaugural Clean Enviro Summit Singapore (CESS).

The mega summit - the first of its kind - will focus on the theme of integrated solutions, said Mr Khoo.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) has identified urban solutions as a key growth sector for Singapore, particularly in exporting its home-grown technology and to be a 'living lab' for global companies to test-bed and commercialise green solutions here.

The wider clean technology or 'cleantech' industry is expected to contribute $3.4 billion to Singapore's gross domestic product and employ 18,000 people by 2015.

Singapore has a similar strategy for water technologies.

National water agency PUB's chief executive Chew Men Leong noted yesterday that the global outlook for the water industry is 'very positive', and it is projected to grow 7.5 per cent annually to $22 billion by 2016.

Singapore-based companies had secured $8.4 billion worth of overseas projects from 2006 to 2010, he said.

The SIWW, which was an annual affair, will now take place once in two years to be in sync with the other two events.

Separately, National Environment Agency chief executive Andrew Tan said Singapore was launching the Clean Enviro Summit to meet the urgent need to address waste management as Asian cities grow in wealth and population.

He noted that two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste were generated globally last year but only 11 per cent went to waste-to-energy plants, with 70 per cent going to landfills.

At the summit, Singapore will showcase some of its latest projects, such as Punggol Eco-Town, Marina Bay and Jurong Lake District. They have adopted district-wide solutions such as smart grids, energy-efficient lighting and green transport.

Mr Patrick Boyle, general manager of tech giant IBM's government and health industry in South-east Asia, told The Straits Times that Singapore was a 'leading-edge' example of integrated urban solutions. Such solutions, he said, were increasingly being adopted around the world.

Mr Ynse de Boer, senior manager of sustainability services at consultancy firm Accenture, said the summit is 'important for both public and private sectors to collaborate and tackle environmental challenges'.

His firm estimates that the value of energy savings that can arise from such solutions could be an annual US$900 billion (S$1.1 trillion) by 2020.

IBM and Accenture are sponsors for the World Cities Summit.

Notable speakers expected at the event include India's Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and World Bank vice-president Pamela Cox.

Urban planners building reputations abroad
Natasha Ann Zachariah Straits Times 21 Apr 12;

HE STARTED as an urban planner with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 1991. But Mr Leow Kim Guan, 49, had designs on more than Singapore. He now has his own booming company, building whole cities in China.

Mr Leow, who set up SCP Consultants as a one-man company in 2004, now has 40 employees in its Singapore office and 230 in China, and has notched up 307 urban planning projects.

He enthuses: 'There are a lot of developing countries which are looking to have properly planned cities or towns. The market for urban planners is so big.'

His is one of a number of Singaporean companies making their mark building cities abroad. Foreign governments and companies from South America to Russia, on the lookout for skilled urban planners, are beating a path to their doors.

It turns out that modern Singapore, with its 46 years of building a gleaming, efficient and eminently liveable city-state, with industrial and business parks and carefully planned suburban neighbourhoods, has been an ideal environment for urban planners to take that know-how and vision to the world.

Some urban planners, such as Mr Leow, started out in their own backyard - here in Singapore - working for government agencies such as the URA and Housing Board, planning suburban neighbourhoods. Others began in the planning units of private companies whose main business was in a related field.

Now, their achievements are being celebrated in an exhibition at the URA Centre in Maxwell Road until June 1.

Images and photographic panels of overseas projects by six local urban planning companies, including SCP Consultants, DP Architects and Jurong Consultants, are on display.

Mr Djoko Prihanto, senior vice-president at Surbana Urban Planning Group, also one of the six companies, said having the Singapore stamp gives local companies an advantage on the international playing field.

He said: 'Companies and governments who have come here see for themselves how the city is planned. They have strong confidence that we can pull it off successfully.'

Ms Nina Yang, an executive director at CPG Consultants and the master planner for the eastern catchment of Singapore and the media park in one-north, said Singapore is a 'textbook example' for other countries to see how their cities or towns could look like.

'For most of the planning work that we do overseas, Singapore offers wonderful built examples for study.'

She added that this makes for a powerful selling tool that helps clients make informed decisions.

And with five billion people expected to live in cities by 2030, the need for urban planners - particularly those with the coveted Singapore 'branding' - can only increase.

With the business of designing cities hitting new heights, Mr Leow, for one, is hoping to expand his company.

The snag? He is having trouble finding Singaporean planners to join his team. 'I want my planners to be familiar with Singapore's practices. But the planners' pool here is already so small that even if I want to expand, I may not be able to find the right person.'

Even a successful city has its limits, it seems.

Urban city warriors
natasha ann zachariah Straits Times 21 Apr 12;

Singapore urban planning consultants are going places - to make places. From Russia to South America, Singaporeans are the desired hires to design new cities.

Decades of planning and developing Singapore from a third-world country to a first-world success story has resulted in a pool of talented people who can create a city from scratch.

And now, foreign governments want them to create a slice of that success story for them too, from business parks to 'innovation cities' housing industrial factories and commercial ventures to entertainment and residential areas.

Since the mid-1990s, scores of urban projects - including cities, and industrial, business and science parks - have been built around the world, and indeed, are being built right now with design input from this Singaporean hot property.

Projects include the US$3-billion (S$3.8-billion) White Bay Master Plan in the United Arab Emirates, a marina resort community by the 12-year-old CPG Consultants, a firm borne out of the now defunct Singapore Public Works Department.

In Rwanda, nine-year-old Surbana Urban Planning Group, which is part of the Surbana International Consultants, plans a bold new city skyline with a central business district and residential townships in the Kigali Central Business District and Nyarugenge District Master Plan.

Other new cities with a little bit of Singapore in their DNA - think the downtown area or the industrial hub of Jurong - have sprung up in parts of Dubai, Moscow, Syria and Nanning in China.

The brains behind the designs involve some who honed their skills at local government agencies such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), before branching out into private planning consultancies.

Others cut their teeth working in private firms on local projects such as Jurong Consultants' Changi Business Park and DP Architects' Singapore River masterplan, and having made their mark here, found their expertise was in demand overseas.

They mostly involve small teams of around five to 10 people, consisting of urban planners, architects, landscape architects and engineers, dreaming big in creating new urban landscapes.

The companies are tight-lipped on how much the projects can make, saying only that they make a profit of between 20 and 25 per cent for each project.

Senior vice-president at Surbana Urban Planning Group, Mr Djoko Prihanto, says a project by his firm for a city-level development about 735 sq km in size, can cost between US$1.5 million and US$3 million.

Recognising the business potential, some firms corporatised their services, while others such as DP Architects, which mainly does architecture projects, expanded its planning service.

Associate director at DP Architects Chan Hui Min puts it this way: 'It's a good source of income and it supports itself. You don't have to bend over backwards to keep it alive.'

This relatively unsung area of Singapore expertise is now having its day in the sun, with the URA holding an exhibition showcasing the works of six local urban planning companies.

A visitor to the show, seeing digitised images of cities-to-be in foreign places, with skyscrapers, tall residential apartments and single iconic structures, will find a touch of familiarity in features resembling the waterfront walk at the Esplanade and the new towns of Sengkang and Punggol.

Indeed, planners say that Singapore sells itself, given that it is largely urbanised and developed. Couple that with its good track record with projects such as the highly lauded Suzhou Industrial Park and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, and foreign countries are knocking on doors here for a local perspective.

Ms Nina Yang, an executive director at CPG Consultants, says: 'From drawing board to realisation, Singapore remains an almost textbook example of planning theories and principles. Every year, the country makes it to the list of one of the most liveable cities in the world.

'City mayors, planners and government agencies do come here to admire the city. It has certainly been very effective when we market our urban planning services overseas.'

Overseas governments are 'impressed' with the scale and how developed Singapore has become despite space constraints and in just 40 years, says senior architect and general manager for the China office for RSP Architects Planners & Engineers, Mr Li Yu Zhou.

Mr Li, who is heading a team of about 10 people including architects and engineers to design the 17.8 sq km Tatarstan Kazan Innopolis in Russia, says: 'They came to look at our science parks and liked how they were built. It was a model that they were looking for, similar to our Bangalore IT Park project, so they approached us to design the area there.'

The ongoing project, which started last year, is expected to be completed mid-year.

For foreign officials looking to build cities, Singapore is their first and only stop. Planning firms are often approached directly or through government agencies here such as Singapore Cooperation Enterprise or the URA, which does Singapore's urban planning, in-house.

The brief might go like this: Build a city or town from scratch that is welldesigned, built to last and liveable. Put in business parks, factories, hospitals, recreational facilities and homes to cater to hundreds of thousands of new city dwellers to live, commute, work and play.

Projects can take between six months and two years depending on size - from as small as Tampines to eight times the size of Singapore. Most planners do not stay till the city is built, leaving the execution of the plans to local governments and officials, which can take years.

While urban planning companies have been around for about 20 years here, the demand has picked up in the past few years amid the increased need for more cities in developing countries.

Experience gleaned working with government agencies has helped prepare the planners for working with governments overseas.

The vice-president of planning at Jurong Consultants, Mr Wilfred Loo, who was previously with the Housing and Development Board and had worked on masterplans for the Punggol 21 and Waterway there, says: 'Being involved in Singapore's urban transformation, you know the loopholes and the relevant question to ask. It definitely makes it easier to work with other governments.'

The process of working in a different environment from Singapore does have its challenges, say the planners, such as grappling with different climates and topographies and making sure plans adhere to local sensitivities.

Mr Loo gives the example of working on projects in Saudi Arabia, where it has to plan for three separate entrances in certain villas - for men, women and domestic help. As such, he says: 'It's not about rubber-stamping the Singaporean experience elsewhere. You have to look at the different culture, climate and lifestyle they have, and be sensitive when designing a space to use.'


URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS: OVERSEAS PLANNING AND UD WORKS BY SINGAPORE CONSULTANCY FIRMS
Where: The URA Centre, 45 Maxwell Road
When: Today till June 1, 9am to 7pm (Mondays to Fridays), 9am to 5pm (Saturdays). Closed on Sundays
Admission: Free
Info: Go to www.ura.gov.sg/uraacademy/urbantransformations.html