Contributions

 

 

Title
Strategies for Liveable and Sustainable Cities: The Singapore Experience

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Michael Koh and Alison Lee)

Synopsis

Singapore has seen a dramatic transformation since the 1960s, from a country facing many urban challenges to a well-regarded liveable and sustainable city today. As a city-state with limited space, Singapore has had to plan long-term and implement effectively. This chapter thus covers eight strategies that Singapore has utilised in its urban development over the years, facilitated by three key planning enablers – technology, infrastructure resilience, and community partnerships.

Title
The Future of Urban Sustainability

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Hugh Lim, Elly Chiu and Yuichi Kikuzawa)

Synopsis

ETHOS is a practitioner-oriented journal of public policy and governance matters published by Singapore’s Civil Service College and read by leading public sector practitioners and thinkers in Singapore and around the world. Since 2006, ETHOS has featured insights and contributions from respected experts and senior leaders in related fields, including distinguished international figures such as Martha Nussbaum, Timothy Geithner, Vernon Smith, Gus O’Donnell, as well as Singapore’s own Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Authors
Hugh Lim, Executive Director, Centre for Liveable Cities

Synopsis

In this written interview, Hugh Lim, Executive Director of Centre for Liveable Cities, weighs in on what it takes to build pandemic-proof and resilient cities based on the practices that worked and deficiencies that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. He discusses the benefits of transforming Southeast Asian cities into smart cities, particularly the role that smart solutions play in accelerating post-pandemic recovery and ensuring urban resilience to future crises.

Title
Singapore, Unlimited

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities

Synopsis

Singapore, Unlimited pays tribute to the vision and hard work of those who planned, shaped and built modern Singapore. It is an adapted translation of CLC’s 2017 publication, Xiao hongdian, da geju (小红点, 大格局) edited by Dr Liu Thai Ker, authored by Singapore writer Han Xin Yu and produced by CLC researchers, Dr Lin Guangming and Wong Chock Fang.

Title
In Conversation: Monitoring Urban Development in Singapore

Authors
Khoo Teng Chye (CLC Fellow)

Synopsis

This written interview shares insights on how Singapore has taken a systems approach towards the city state’s urban development. Through examples on greenery, public spaces and inclusivity, it explains how Singapore’s methodology has resulted in liveable city outcomes that are well-aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Title
Innovations in Parks: Singapore

Authors
Khoo Teng Chye (CLC Fellow) & Nicole Lum (CLC)

Synopsis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many cities have implemented quick changes to the public realm—most of them intended to be temporary—to address new challenges and meet changing needs. The Pandemic and the Public Realm features interviews with city officials, nonprofits, and other groups from more than 30 cities that have developed innovative public space projects since enhanced public health measures began in spring 2020. These inspirational examples from around the world provide insights on how to create safe, equitable, and desirable public spaces—even after the pandemic is over.

Title
Cultural Opportunities For Liveable Neighbourhoods

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Michael Koh & Andy Tan)

Synopsis

Cultural Connections is an international journal by MCCY’s Culture Academy Singapore to nurture thought leadership in cultural work in the public sector. This year’s edition focused on the impact of Covid-19 on arts and culture and how institutions, including governments and communities, have responded to the pandemic.

CLC’s article highlights ideas for expanding cultural spaces in Singapore’s post Covid-19 neighbourhoods to enhance liveability and strengthen social resilience. These ideas are decentralising cultural facilities to neighbourhood centres, developing community museums, walking trails, car-lite neighbourhoods, murals and light-touch interventions to generate spontaneous interactions in public space. These ideas are also opportunities for greater community co-creation, ownership and governance, including learning from San Francisco’s Community Benefits District model.

Title
Pathways to a Resilient Future: Lessons from Singapores Urban Planning System

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Khoo Teng Chye)

Synopsis

“Towards a Resilient Future”, a publication by the Singapore Institute of Planners (SIP), commemorates winning urban planning and design projects from the SIP Planning Awards. The feature article, “Pathways to a Resilient Future: Lessons from Singapore’s Urban Planning System” showcases key milestones from Singapore’s urban development journey from a harbour and trade settlement dating back 700 years to a liveable, sustainable and resilient city today. The article distils ten key principles behind Singapore’s urban planning system, including good governance and an integrated approach to planning and development that has facilitated urban innovation in a systematic manner. As Singapore keeps growing and developing into a world city in a time of climate change, demographic shifts and rapid technological development, the article explores the role of urban planners in charting the way forward for a sustainable future, both in Singapore and around the world.

Title
Museum (Chapter 32) & Urban Redevelopment (Chapter 38)

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Khoo Teng Chye, Michael Koh)

Synopsis

Singapore has evolved from a developing country to a developed one, in only a few short decades. Its gross domestic product per capita has soared from just US$517 (S$697) in 1965, to US$64,582 (S$87,128) in 2018.

Impressed, visiting university students from Mexico and the United States, in early 2019, asked the city state’s Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh for its secret of success.

His reply: there was not a single secret but many, which he would consider curating a new book on.

The result: Fifty Secrets of Singapore’s Success.

The collection of 50 essays, written by leaders and experts in their fields, sheds light on how the small state has scored significant success in not only economics but also eight other areas.

Among other things, Singapore is one of the world’s least corrupt countries, has one of the highest home ownership rates worldwide — of more than 90 per cent — and has world-class schools, healthcare and environments.

Singapore has also been a good global citizen. It has played a significant role in the development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). At the United Nations (UN), Singapore has played a leadership role in the negotiations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (also known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation) and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.

Khoo Teng Chye’s article outlines Singapore’s journey from a city of slums to a highly liveable and sustainable global city through the work of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Michael Koh’s article presents the key factors for the transformation of Singapore’s museums into world-class institutions.

Title
Singapore: Enhancing Urban Health and Vibrancy by Leveraging Streets, Park Connectors, and Marketplaces

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Ken Lee, Mina Zhan, Elyssa Kaur Ludher, Thinesh Kumar Paramasilvam)

Synopsis

In every city, the urban spaces that form the public realm—ranging from city streets, neighborhood squares, and parks to public facilities such as libraries and markets—account for about one-third of the city’s total land area, on average. Despite this significance, the potential for these public-space assets—typically owned and managed by local governments—to transform urban life and city functioning is often overlooked for many reasons: other pressing city priorities arising from rapid urbanization, poor urban planning, and financial constraints.

The resulting degradation of public spaces into congested, vehicle-centric, and polluted places often becomes a liability, creating a downward spiral that leads to a continuous drain on public resources and exacerbating various city problems. In contrast, the cities that invest in the creation of human-centered, environmentally sustainable, economically vibrant, and socially inclusive places—in partnership with government entities, communities, and other private stakeholders—perform better. They implement smart and sustainable strategies across their publicspace asset life cycles to yield returns on investment far exceeding monetary costs, ultimately enhancing city livability, resilience, and competitiveness.

The Hidden Wealth of Cities: Creating, Financing, and Managing Public Spaces discusses the complexities that surround the creation and management of successful public spaces and draws on the analyses and experiences from city case studies from around the globe. This book identifies—through the lens of asset management—a rich palette of creative and innovative strategies that every city can undertake to plan, finance, and manage both government-owned and privately owned public spaces.

 

 

Synopsis

Governments in the 21st century operate in an environment that is more complex than before, and governance requires public officers who are skilled in complexity thinking: adaptable, fluid in thought and willing to experiment before implementing a solution.

This new guide, edited by Peter Ho and Sheila Pakir, illustrates tools and frameworks that can help public officers better navigate the complex environment. It focuses on Singapore, but many of these ideas may be transferable to other contexts.

It is available for sale at $20 (including GST) per copy. To purchase, please contact Liza Lee <liza_lee@cscollege.gov.sg> or Sheila Ng <sheila_ng@cscollege.gov.sg>

Article Title
The Future of Smart & Inclusive Cities

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Yuting Xu, Elyssa Ludher, Kankang Zhu and Yimin Zhou)

Synopsis

The cities of 2030, 2050 and 2100 will be very different from today. They will be cities transformed: in their demographic composition, in their implementation of technology and in their wider ecological contexts. The challenges of building cities sustainable enough to meet the changing needs of the future will require new ways of thinking and working, as well as new kinds of multi-stakeholder initiatives and partnerships. The Future of Asian and Pacific Cities report 2019 makes the case for four priorities and four approaches to realize a sustainable urban future in Asia and the Pacific. A sustainable future occurs when urban and territorial planning lays a foundation; resilience guards against future risk; smart cities deploy the best technology for the job; and financing tools help pay for it all. Getting these essentials right in Asian and Pacific cities today is vital in order to adapt to the demands of tomorrow and to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.

The Future of Asian and Pacific Cities report 2019 was jointly developed by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, Centre for Livable Cities Singapore, the European Union, The Rockefeller Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme.

Article Title
Place-making and Identity in Singapore: The Role of Integrated Planning and Our Built Heritage

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Elaine Tan and Tan Xin Wei Andy)

Synopsis

From the early days of identifying national monuments to the conservation of districts and historic sites, the emphasis on identity and conservation of our built heritage has been an integral part of urban planning. In the journey of conservation and the search for identity, there are key decision points, tradeoffs, players and enabling factors that pave the way for systemic innovation to make conservation an integral part of planning and a significant part of the Singaporean consciousness. A unique built environment and the community’s attachment and memories of places are reflective of the history of the nation and the love it engenders in its people, which in turn are distinguishing contributors to identity. Today, the public’s dialogue and active involvement in conservation and identity issues reflects a shift in how the public can be engaged, the rising importance of public knowledge about the buildings and sites that are close to their hearts, and reveals how site history and social memory—beyond architectural significance—is a key element of redevelopment plans.

Article Title
Making Cities and Human Settlements Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities

Synopsis

Singapore is a city-state with limited land and a high urban density. These unique circumstances demand the prudent and strategic use of space to ensure sustainable development, given an increasing population and the necessity of economic growth. This requires sound and dynamic urban governance combined with integrated long-term planning to ensure sufficient land for sustainable growth as well as a convenient and high-quality living environment for Singaporeans. Singapore therefore works with various stakeholders on policies such as those geared towards public housing and an integrated transport network, while ensuring the incorporation of green spaces throughout the urban landscape. Ultimately, the goal is to create a pleasant environment in which all Singaporeans can work, live, and play.

Chapter Title
Embracing technology to enable more liveable and sustainable cities

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Limin Hee)

Chapter Synopsis

The Connected Cities: Citizen insights across Asia Pacific report published by KPMG, in association with CLP, JOS, Smart City Consortium, Siemens and Wilson Group, looks at how five Asia Pacific cities—Hong Kong, Melbourne, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore—are implementing smart city development initiatives. The report features a survey of over 4,000 citizens in the five cities, tracking residents’ expectations and priorities for development in six focus areas: transportation and mobility, building a future focused workforce, living environment, healthcare, energy and resources and the impact of technology.

Across all five cities, creating a better living environment with thoughtful urban planning and design emerged as the overall top priority. A close second was improving healthcare delivery and access for residents. It takes good planning and governance to make smart cities work, says CLC’s Director Dr Limin Hee. Read more about Dr Hee's commentary and CLC’s case study on Singapore’s OneService initiative in the report. 

Chapter Title
Contributions of the British to Public Housing and Town Planning in Singapore

Authors
Khoo Teng Chye, Stewart Tan and Melissa Chan

Chapter Synopsis

The Singapore Bicentennial, which marks the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar in Singapore, is an opportunity to tell afresh the story of the relationship between Singapore and the United Kingdom. 200 Years of Singapore and The United Kingdom captures major historical developments before the arrival of the British, as well as during the last 200 years.

CLC contributed an essay on the foundation of Singapore’s Public Housing and Town Planning left by the British, which led to ethnic clusters and housing towns that continue to permeate the present day.

View here

Article Title
A Historic Heart: How Heritage Districts Can Make Cities More Liveable

Authors
Centre for Liveable Cities (Michael Koh and Katyana Melic)

Synopsis

A liveable city is one where a high quality of life, sustainable environment and competitive economy are made accessible to all its residents. Historic districts contribute towards the liveability, accessibility and attractiveness of a city. Conserved historic buildings and their related urban spaces help anchor a city’s distinctive identity, providing residents with a sense of rootedness and civic pride, while also attracting visitors from afar. Providing shared public spaces in these districts encourages interactions that nurture a thriving communal life and social integration. But all these outcomes call for the active and thoughtful participation of local planners and programmers, and effective partnerships between the public and private sectors, to ensure that the built environment can contribute to Singapore’s liveability as a city, with authentic, thriving neighbourhoods and inclusive communities.