Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Forum

THE FORUM

The Prize Forum is a dedicated platform for the 2012 Special Mentions to share their diverse urban development experiences as case studies for cities around the world. Each speaker will present their unique context, the challenges faced and the urban solutions they have sought.

Moderator:

• Dr. Cheong Koon Hean, Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Nominating Committee Member and CEO, Housing & Development Board, Singapore
  
  - Presentation Slides

Speakers:

• Ahmedabad: Implementing practical, sustainable solutions for developing cities
  
  - Presentation Slides
  
  Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, India

Ahmedabad 92nd strongest city in world Ahmedabad is a unique city. Founded after its ruler noticed a dog-chasing rabbit on the banks of a river 600-odd years ago, this 'Gift of the Sabarmati' has grown enough to be counted among the Top-100 cities of the world today. As per Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the business-to-business (B2B) arm of The Economist group, Ahmedabad ranks 92nd in the list of Top-100 cities of the world, as far as competitive spirit is concerned. EIU's report reveals that Ahmedabad has witnessed double-digit growth in GDP and has the potential to grow even faster. Released in March 2012, the report by Hotspots, an EIU research programme commissioned by Citigroup, ranks competitiveness among 120 of the world's major cities. The final report is handiwork of EIU's editorial team which formulated Global City Competitive Index and analysed parameters for the rankings. "Emerging cities like Ahmedabad in India and Tianjin in China are witnessing double-digit economic growth and have the potential to grow even faster," states the report. "Competitiveness, however, is a holistic concept. While economic size and growth are important, several other factors including business, regulatory environment, quality of human capital and life help sustain a city's high economic growth rate, and create a stable and harmonious business and social environment." New York ranks one, or is the most competitive city in the world, as per EIU's report followed by London, Singapore and Hong Kong. New Delhi (68) tops Indian cities on this chart, followed by Mumbai (70), Bangalore (79), Ahmedabad (92), Pune (97), Hyderabad (98) and Chennai and Kolkata together at 105th place. Mentioning more about Ahmedabad, the report states that 30 Megacities of the world, of which Ahmedabad is one, are expected to grow at a healthy 6.3% in period 2010-16. Ahmedabad's GDP is predicted to grow at 10.1% per annum in this period, ranking it 19th on the list of the Megacities in terms of economic strength. The Top-three cities of this list are in China and they expected to grow in excess of 11.5%. Among Indian cities, only Bangalore is projected to beat Ahmedabad in economic growth rate. Karnataka's capital is expected to develop at 10.3% in 2010-16, just a shade above Ahmedabad's 10.1%. But the erstwhile 'Manchester of the East' and the successor to Detroit across the Pacific puddle is a laggard when it comes to other parameters to rate it as a global city. It may be 19th on economic strength, but skids in physical capital, financial maturity, institutional effectiveness, human capital, natural hazards and global appeal. It doesn't even feature in Top-60 when these factors are in play.

• Vancouver: The evolving Vancouver model of city-building
  
  - Presentation Video
  
  His Worship Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver, Canada

The City of Vancouver is acknowledged world-wide for its innovative planning and urban design. We are fortunate to be surrounded by mountains, forests, the ocean and beaches. The natural setting informs every aspect of planning, design and liveability in our city. In addition to our spectacular natural setting, there have been significant moments in our history that have helped shape the city we are today. In the 1970s citizens rebelled against the proposal to build an inner-city freeway through the downtown core, and as a result the government of the day abandoned the idea, along with several destructive 'urban renewal' initiatives. Since then, Vancouver has been forward thinking, leading-edge and, occasionally, counterintuitive, and in being so has changed many fundamental assumptions and debates about how cities world-wide should be built. One thing that sets Vancouver apart is the willingness to leverage our advantages to deliberately create the city we have today. It is significant that our processes have evolved over 40 years and continues to evolve today, with renewed commitment to leadership in city-building. Vancouver's strong and effective planning approach provides a solid foundation for future development. The continuity of policy-making allows us to strive for an ever better city, focusing on sustainability and liveability, with the goal of becoming the world's greenest city by 2020. Vancouver has long embraced its role and responsibilities as an international model of innovative city-building. A cornerstone of the Vancouver approach is embracing diversity, speaking honestly about our history and challenges, and also celebrating our successes. Our city continues to pioneer new policies and approaches that ensure the city remains an inclusive place to live, learn and work.

• Urban Renewal Brisbane- Brisbane's urban renaissance
  
  - Presentation Slides
  
  Councillor Angela Owen-Taylor, Deputy to the Lord Mayor on International Relations & Multicultural Affairs, Brisbane City Council, Australia

Brisbane 2012 Brisbane is Australia's new world city, an easy-living city, proudly casual, yet has a growing sophistication. It is Australia's third largest city, a subtropical metropolis located in the heart of the nation's fastest growing region. Brisbane is the economic engine room for the state of Queensland, with an economy valued at over $114 billion - almost half (45%) of the total state economy, and with local employment growing faster than in any other Australian state capital. Post-Industrial City Brisbane City Council's Urban Renewal Brisbane (URB) program began its activities in Brisbane's inner north-east, targeting five suburbs for renewal. All were blighted by population drift, chaotic traffic, extensive industrial obsolescence and crime. Today, the area is unrecognisable. Hip retail, living and entertainment precincts replace industrial and warehousing areas; stylish apartments and landmark buildings line the riverfront where old wharves once lay idle; and new music, design, art and multimedia clusters jostle for place alongside state-of-the-art business complexes and affordable housing initiatives. Brisbane is the 'Gen Y' of international cities: youthful, progressive and confident, it is the nation's gateway to the Asia-Pacific markets and 'knowledge' now accounts for much of the city's exports. River City Urban renewal has helped the City embrace the Brisbane River. This strategy inspired and informed a myriad of plans and renewal projects over a 20 year period in multiple riverfront locations. This included identifying barriers to sustainable waterfront development and cultural change and developing overarching renewal strategies, as well as embedding river-focused strategies into local plans. New World City URB generated a bold and comprehensive vision of the CBD as a place to live, learn and play, not just work. Based on extensive research and consultation, the plan was awarded the nation's most prestigious award for planning excellence in 2007. Inner Brisbane has become a national exemplar in urban renewal, renowned for its design excellence, outstanding subtropical architecture and groundbreaking heritage redevelopments. The city's formerly one dimensional business district has now blossomed into a global nexus for commerce, the heart of an increasingly rich network of inner urban creative, cultural, educational, research and living precincts, which makes Brisbane a prime location to do business on a global scale.

• Cape Town: Violence prevention through urban upgrading
  
  - Presentation Slides
  
  Michael Krause, Director, Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood Development

The presentation will provide insight into the transformation of low income neighbourhoods developed und Apartheid law characterised by social, institutional, economic, cultural and spatial exclusion into Sustainable Neighbourhoods. Such transformation is driven through comprehensive partnership approaches. The role of public space as driver of community expressions and public debate, the need to social coherence, the management of spaces, appropriate local economic development models are all elements of bringing into being a Sustainable Neighbourhood. The programme is a partnership between the City of Cape Town, the Government of the Western Cape, South African National Treasury, the German Development Bank, the communities under leadership of the Khayelitsha Development Forum, the University of Cape Town and many NGO's and private initiatives. The process is facilitated via a dedicated agent – AHT GROUP AG and its South African partner SUN Development. The programme applies practical research techniques and follows UN Habitat Safer Cities and WHO practices. Key for transformation to take place is solid community negotiations. The presentation will illustrate how the relatively small start within a defined neighbourhood of about 40.000 people has and is been replicated to large parts of the City of Cape Town and South Africa.

• Copenhagen: Driving sustainable solutions for regional "green growth"
  
  - Presentation Slides
  
  Her Excellency Pia Allerslev, Mayor of Culture and Leisure, City of Copenhagen, Denmark

The City of Copenhagen is ambitious. We want a city that combines quality of life and growth. For this reason, we focus on large urban development projects that create space for new homes and workplaces. Copenhagen may already rank high on most reviews of life quality in cities and have a strong and competitive cleantech sector. Yet, to keep up Copenhagen must be able to exploit new possibilities and address the challenges that define the growth of our city in the coming years. The Copenhagen municipality has therefore set a high goal of CO2 neutrality in 2025. This will be achieved by strategically using Copenhagen's role as purchaser and investor to change the city into a laboratory for new green technology which can be tested in full scale. As a part of this strategy Copenhagen introduces smart city technology which can provide feedback that makes it possible to tailor fit the green solutions to the behaviour of the Copenhageners and collect data on efficient use of energy. This is done in close cooperation and partnership with the private sector and universities, as well as other cities in the region - to create the best possible conditions for cluster formation in green technology. To do this, Copenhagen works closely together with Malmö and Hamburg on knowledge sharing, innovation and joint infrastructure projects - so people and knowledge travel faster. In this way Copenhagen becomes more liveable, greener and prosperous at the same time.

• Malmö: Adopting an integrated and sustainable approach to urban development
  
  - Presentation Slides
  
  His Excellency Ilmar Reepalu, Mayor of Malmö, Sweden