Editor's Picks

“We need to make sure that the drive to net zero is a drive to reduce inequality in cities,” Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham urged. In the wake of COVID-19 and following COP26, how can we understand and revise global cities, to help them emerge stronger? Global city leaders gathered to share their wisdom on combatting rising inequalities, collaborating urgently for climate action, and collectively re-imagining daily life as reshaped by the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted the pressing question of how to build cities that help residents not just to live, but to flourish as healthy and happy individuals. City and industry leaders express their confidence in prioritising people-centric, nature-based, and flexible cross-disciplinary approaches for planning cities.

Cities need to urgently address climate change and plan how to cope with its effects, both now and in the future. Speakers at the WCS Webinar Planning for a Rainy Day: Climate Ready Cities share solutions and reveal the importance of understanding how cities, stakeholders and urban systems are intertwined: “if you don’t look far enough, you won’t be able to understand the connections.”

“Cities, like all human systems, are enormously complex… Agents – people –are interdependent. They interact and influence each other in ways that defy a deterministic or linear analysis,” Chairman Peter Ho of the Urban Redevelopment Authority expressed. City and industry leaders engaged with key ideas to better understand and work with cities’ interconnected systems, highlighting that building on the science of cities requires people-centric approaches, tapping into big data, and an essential willingness to experiment.

“Every now and then, it’s useful to re-examine our ideas and assumptions of what makes a city smart”, Minister Josephine Teo notes. This is especially important given that technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) can improve lives, but may also increase vulnerabilities if not implemented well. Government and industry leaders discuss key priorities for positively transforming the future of smart cities: keeping data safe, making technologies green, improving systems, and supporting inclusivity.

Cities’ innate capacity for innovation can equip them to respond confidently to future challenges like climate change and pandemics. Speakers at the WCS Session Facing the Future with Confidence shared how technology development and implementation will be crucial to tackling disruptions like infectious diseases and climate change, but only if they can get citizens on board.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the climate crisis, digital revolution and demographic shifts, our way of life is being transformed. In this WCS session Cities Adapting to a Disrupted World, government and industry leaders discuss how to emerge stronger through taking risks and tapping opportunities, and highlight the need for innovative global and cross-sector collaboration to develop well-integrated solutions.

Reflecting on Singapore’s response to COVID-19 and other disruptions as a small city-state, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Heng Swee Keat emphasises the enduring relevance of cities in knowledge creation and innovation, and shares how we need to rethink how we plan our cities and innovate, invest, and integrate to emerge stronger.

Disruptions such as the climate crisis and now pandemics have challenged stakeholders to rethink how to build liveable cities. Speakers at the WCS Session on Investing in a Sustainable and Equitable Recovery discuss how cities can invest in sustainability, resilience and inclusivity, by rethinking frameworks, collaborating and displaying “ambidextrous leadership”

COVID-19 has revealed the limitations of top-down solutions and highlighted the need to prepare and mobilise communities to face disruptions on the ground. Speakers at the WCS Session on Engaging Communities, Building Resilience discussed key ways to do this: nurturing community leaders, addressing inequalities, and especially building trust through open dialogue.

Climate resilience cannot be undertaken by one entity alone. Our speakers share the business case for companies to commit to climate resilience and the importance of science and data not only to inform policies, but also report corporates' performances on their environmental, social and corporate governance goals.

Amidst global threats and disruptions, how can we unleash the potential of technology for smarter and greener cities? Our speakers shed light on how cities can lead the global technology development process through identifying its greatest challenges, establishing trust with the industry, and facilitating an agile procurement framework.

COVID-19, the climate crisis, social shifts and new technologies have shaken the world. Minister Indranee reflects on Singapore’s experience with Dr Cheong and the importance of creating a green and resilient future through comprehensive city and infrastructure planning and working with the international community and citizens, so that cities can continue to thrive despite the disruptions.

How can city administrations identify and attack looming challenges, facilitate the essential function of harnessing the private sector and innovators with alignment and focus, and at the same time stimulate economic growth and opportunity? Here are 5 Key Principles from David on how to Prepare Global Cities for a Dynamic Future.