City mayors pledge to promote liveable, sustainable urban environments

Mayors and leaders from 64 cities commit to policies including providing affordable homes and building accessible transport networks.
Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 11 Jun 15;

NEW YORK: Mayors and leaders from 64 cities ‎have pledged to promote equitable, liveable and sustainable urban environments.

They issued a declaration at the end of the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum on Wednesday (Jun 10), held this year in New York. It is the first time they have done so in the history of the event, which is now into its sixth edition.

The policies that mayors and city leaders have committed to under the declaration included providing affordable homes and building accessible transport networks.

“Things like looking at planning for the long term, having integrity in governance, providing affordable housing, making sure transport is good, these are all things that we have done, and we see this declaration, in a way, as an affirmation of what we’ve been doing in Singapore, and the fact that it’s being endorsed by these other mayors does show this is the way to go for cities around the world,” said Mr Desmond Lee, Singapore’s Minister of State for National Development.

The declaration will also be submitted to the United Nations (UN). It will help shape the UN’s agenda for its conference on sustainable urban development, to be held next year.

Summing up the takeaways from the three-day forum, Mr Lee pointed out some issues that need to be addressed. These include rapid demographic changes, such as an ageing population, and ensuring inclusive growth.

To address the challenges that cities face, Mr Lee said it is important to think out of the box and make use of advancements in technology. For instance, there could be more partnerships between governments and schools, and more crowd-sourcing initiatives for ground-up solutions.

He cited a case study from the mayor of Bandung. “The mayor of Bandung also shared about his command centre idea. He is very hot about technology and smart cities and really using technology to improve the lives of his people, just as we are looking at technology to improve the lives of Singaporeans,” said Mr Lee.

“He set up a command centre that feeds in data from utility companies, from people who monitor the flood levels, and with that kind of central knowledge and data planning, they’re able to react more quickly to difficulties that occur in any part of his city, and that is something for us - a good takeaway, using data, using technology to improve the lives of our people through faster response in government.”

Mr Lee also encouraged citizens to play a part as their cities evolve, to drive positive change and a greater sense of ownership.

- CNA/xq

New ideas and new ways to run cities
Jeremy Au Yong The Straits Times 13 Jun 15;

In the city of Ahmedabad in India, city officials have been able to tackle some of their transportation issues with a well-run bus rapid transit system, using GPS-enabled buses and dedicated lanes in the middle of the road to replicate the functions of an MRT.

In Kiev, Ukraine, the government is trying to put in place a Wi-Fi network to give Internet access to commuters across all 67.5km of its subway.

Meanwhile in Bandung, Indonesia, officials say a new command centre that includes monitoring social media for municipal problems has sped up their response times.

Innovative solutions to urban planning and municipal problems were a highlight of the World Cities Cities Summit Mayors Forum in New York that wrapped up on Wednesday. The theme of the forum was "Innovative Cities of Opportunity" and there was a clear emphasis on being able to think out of the box to try and find solutions.

But while he lauded the many ground-breaking efforts, Singapore Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee - who chaired the forum - also reminded mayors that innovative thinking did not stop at just trying to harness technology.

Speaking at the close of the summit, he said: "I am heartened to hear that there are more partnerships between city governments and academic institutions to look for new ideas, in tandem with more crowdsourcing of ground-up solutions.

"But in the hot pursuit for new ideas and suggestions, there is also value in pausing and reflecting on how existing systems can be improved or better made use of."

He told reporters later about a discussion mayors had about solving transportation issues where the need to take a step back from the problem came into focus.

During a discussion on increasing the capacity of mass rapid transit, providing cycling paths and improving walkability, the mayor of Medellin, Colombia, asked whether they should also try and make people travel less.

"He just sat there and said, can we look at it from the other angle instead? Let's think about travelling less. For instance, can people telecommute - you work from home instead of travelling to work? Can you change the peak period by shifting the working hours of companies and businesses so you attenuate the peak period crush?

"These are things that Singapore has been looking at as well so that is an affirmation of our approach to look at various angles," he said.

He added that interactions like that were part of the value of the summit to Singapore.

"In as much as Singapore profiles ourselves by sharing our experience with these cities, we are also taking the opportunity to learn from other cities because we must never stop learning from the good points and bad points from other cities."

The summit, which is jointly organised by Singapore's Centre for Livable Cities and Urban Redevelopment Authority, is being held outside Singapore for only the second time.

The New York meeting concluded with a first for the forum, as all the mayors endorsed a declaration outlining principles for building better cities. These include increasing communication between governments and the private sector as well as focusing on long-term plans.

Though the document does not set any binding targets for the leaders, Mr Lee said he hopes it will help guide the conversation on the issue at the United Nations.

He said: "The declaration will be submitted to the United Nations as part of the UN discussion on sustainable development for cities next year and we hope that Singapore can play a role, through this forum, to help shape the international agenda and discussion on sustainable cities."