Knowledge sharing and new partnerships announced at the sixth edition of World Cities Summit pave the way for cities to offer sustainable solutions to meet future urban demands and place-making challenges and opportunities

Singapore, 20 July 2018 – Over 130 mayors and city leaders from 128 cities gathered at the World Cities Summit 2018 held in Singapore to share learnings and to address challenges and innovations for future-ready cities. 16 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and agreements were inked, paving the way for collaborations between cities and stakeholders in the public, private and people sectors. Interactions at this global platform attended by more than 1,700 delegates provided opportunities for city leaders, industry experts and leading academics to explore how cities can be more liveable and sustainable through better urban governance, planning, building resilience and leveraging on innovations.

Held from 8 – 12 July, the 2018 edition of the World Cities Summit-Singapore International Water Week-CleanEnviro Summit Singapore (WCS-SIWW-CESS) events drew more than 24,000 trade attendees (compared to more than 21,000 in 2016) including government officials, industry leaders and city experts, academics as well as representatives from the business community across 110 countries and regions. This year, WCS went beyond the broad themes of urban governance and liveable cities, to embracing the future of cities through innovation and collaboration. The Summit showcased integrated urban solutions necessary to address pressing challenges faced by cities, forged new partnerships, and brought together the top echelons across the public, private and people sectors.

“Out of the 128 cities that participated in WCS 2018, 67 cities are first-time participants and 61 cities are returning participants. The strong show of support from city leaders, industry experts and leading academics alike bear testament to the increasing prestige and appeal of WCS as the leading international platform for urban sustainability conversations and innovations,” said Mr Michael Koh, joint spokesperson for WCS-SIWW-CESS.

Creating People-Centric Cities: Beyond Urban Infrastructure

Besides combining good governance and engagement of their citizens, cities are also looking to become inclusive, creative and sustainable with a high quality of life.

The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2018 Laureate, Seoul, South Korea, shared at the Prize Lecture on how leveraging smart technology and the collective input of its citizens have helped tackle issues associated with rapid urbanisation.

The four cities accorded Special Mentions – Hamburg, Kazan, Surabaya and Tokyo – further demonstrated how they have overcome planning challenges to develop cities of opportunities for their citizens.

Citizen involvement and proper communication with stakeholders is crucial in shaping people-centric and liveable cities. Beyond urban infrastructure, citizen engagement should be integrated for all plans and ground-up processes should be incorporated into day-to-day operations. Big data presents the opportunity to allow decision-making on the finest details, providing transparency to all citizens and ensuring no one is left out.

Embracing the future through innovation and collaboration

The key theme of innovation was further reinforced by the collaborations and MOUs announced during WCS 2018.

“We are seeing greater collaboration efforts with the best minds in urban planning and development from private companies, international organisations and government agencies at WCS,” Mr Koh added. “The combination of urban governance, planning, resilience, and innovation will form the foundation of a liveable and sustainable city for the future, one that addresses and meets future demands of cities amid rapid urbanisation.”

Details on major announcements made and partnerships signed at the Summit are provided in Annex A.

The next World Cities Summit will be held in 2020, from 5 – 9 July, in Singapore. The World Cities Summit Mayors Forum 2019 will be held in Medellín, Colombia, from 10 – 12 July.

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About the World Cities Summit

The biennial World Cities Summit is an exclusive platform for government leaders and industry experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges, share integrated urban solutions and forge new partnerships. Themed "Liveable and Sustainable Cities: Embracing the Future through Innovation and Collaboration", the sixth edition of the WCS seeks to explore how cities can embrace the future through innovation and collaboration. Through shared vision and social innovations, the public and private sectors including communities can co-create innovative and integrated urban solutions for the future. Jointly organised by Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and Urban Redevelopment Authority, key highlights of the Summit include the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, the annual World Cities Summit Mayors Forum and Young Leaders Symposium. For more information, visit www.worldcitiesummit.com.sg.

For more information, please contact:

Jean Zhuang

Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Mobile: +65 9061 1075

jean.zhuang@hkstrategies.com

Rayner Lee

Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Mobile: +65 9672 7582

rayner.lee@hkstrategies.com

MOUS AND AGREEMENTS INKED AT THE WORLD CITIES SUMMIT 2018
#	Announcements	Details
7 July 2018
1.	Singapore Declaration inked between Singapore and ASEAN Governors/Mayors on environmental sustainability, at the Meeting of Governors/Mayors of ASEAN Capitals (MGMAC)	Under the Singapore Declaration, mayors and governors from ASEAN capitals pledged their commitment to take ownership in building a sustainable environment in their respective cities, including seeking to reduce energy intensity in the ASEAN region by 20% from 2005 levels by 2030.
8 July 2018
2.	MOU inked between United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), at the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) Inaugural Meeting	Aims to provide a framework of cooperation and strengthen collaboration between UNDP and JETRO on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and joint activities for ASCN.
3.	Letter of Intent signed between Phuket’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) and UNDP, at the ASCN Inaugural Meeting	Aims to establish a strong partnership between the DEPA and UNDP for the smart and safe Phuket smart city project.
4.	Letter of Intent signed between Banyuwangi City, Indonesia and Wiley and Sons, at the ASCN Inaugural Meeting	Aims to provide a framework of cooperation and strengthen collaboration for the provision of educational content, including internet marketing, training and digital-based learning, for students in 25 sub-districts.
5.	Letter of Intent signed between Chonburi’s AMATA Smart City and the Yokohama Urban Solution Alliance (YUSA), at the ASCN Inaugural Meeting	Partnership on providing professional services for Chonburi’s Smart Energy Management System. This includes the management of the electrical network, generation systems (including the conversion of waste to energy), transmission systems, storage systems and power distribution systems.
6.	Letter of Intent signed between International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IBM Asia Pacific, at the ASCN Inaugural Meeting	Collaboration on the TechEmerge Smart Cities programme, which looks to improve delivery of urban services. This is done by matching technology companies with urban services providers and city governments, with the aim to build commercial partnerships to implement smart cities technologies.
9 July 2018
7.	MOU inked between the World Bank and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to promote greater use of geospatial information and technology for sustainable urban development in partner cities	Under the MOU, both parties will work together to promote the use of geospatial information and technology for better optimisation of land resources, land use planning and sustainable urban development. SLA will provide its expertise in geospatial information and technology to the World Bank to facilitate the development of geospatial data infrastructures in the region, for sustainable urban development. The World Bank will share its experiences in capacity building and urban development.
8.	Renewal of the MOU between Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and National University of Singapore (NUS)/School of Design and Environment (SDE)	CLC and NUS/SDE have renewed their two-year MOU, which was first signed on 15 July 2016. The MOU signed on 9 July 2018 marks the renewal for a two-year term, and reaffirms the close partnership between the two parties. Under this MOU, CLC will facilitate sustained partnership with NUS/SDE to share knowledge, undertake joint research, and collaborate on areas of mutual interest, in particular, that of building liveable cities which are dynamic, vibrant, cohesive and sustainable. CLC will continue to facilitate research fellowships and student internship programmes for both undergraduate and graduate students of SDE.
9.	MOU inked between Keppel Urban Solutions and ST Engineering to design and execute Smart City Masterplans in cities across Asia	Aims to leverage on each other’s expertise and resources in the design and implementation of smart city masterplans and solutions in Keppel’s developments, as well as to collaborate on third-party projects in Asia Pacific. The partnership will tap into the expertise of Keppel Urban Solutions as an end-to-end integrated master developer bringing together the Keppel Group's diverse capabilities in sustainable urbanisation.
10.	MOU inked between Dassault Systèmes and the District Government of Padang Pariaman, Indonesia, for future development of the “Padang Pariaman Smart City Implementation Project” in Indonesia	The partnership seeks to leverage Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCity solutions to support the digital transformation of the District Government of Padang Pariaman’s various portfolios for document and project management
10 July 2018
11.	Research agreement inked between Housing & Development Board (HDB) and Robin Village Development Pte Ltd to conduct research into 3D concrete printing	The research project will explore the potential adoption of 3D concrete printing for the production of unique architectural forms, to expand HDB’s design and construction capabilities.
12.	Research collaboration inked between HDB and ISO Landscape Pte Ltd to study and develop a floating solar system for marine conditions	To support the acceleration of solar adoption in Singapore, HDB is studying the use of its floating modular system – an in-house invention – for the deployment of solar panels in open sea conditions. The partnership with ISO Landscape Pte Ltd will look to study and develop a Floating Solar System for coastal marine conditions.
13.	MOU inked between HDB and SP Group to study the potential of developing Tengah into a first-of-its-kind Smart Energy Town	The collaboration will look into studying the potential of developing Tengah into a Smart Energy Town. This involves developing and test-bedding a centralised energy software system, akin to a ‘brain’ that will collect, process, analyse and learn data on energy consumption at the town-, neighbourhood-, and apartment-levels.
14.	MOU inked between JTC and ST Engineering on the design, build and deployment of an open digital platform in Punggol Digital District	Aims to design, build and deploy customise Smart City Solutions on an Open Digital Platform for Punggol Digital District, a 50-hectare District landmarked as a key element of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision.
15.	MOU renewal inked between the Ministry of Education Singapore and IBM Pathways in Technology Early College High-Schools (P-TECH)	Aims to create new education pathways to plug new collar skills shortage and support Future Tech Workers, in line with the Singapore Government’s call to shift focus from paper qualifications to skills.
16.	MOU inked between Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and Seoul Institute	Research project on age-friendly cities which involves the sharing of case studies and insights on ageing policies from New Taipei, Seoul and Singapore. This is the third joint research project between CLC and Seoul Institute.

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