Cities for People

Existing cities face constraints of land and space. Urban rejuvenation efforts are critical in the face of disruption and change. There are multiple priorities to be considered, such as revitalising ageing buildings and infrastructure, ensuring access to affordable housing and adapting to demographic changes.

This plenary features successful implementation solutions, innovative approaches and purposeful community engagement that can transform cities.

This plenary explores innovative strategies and solutions to create healthier, greener and more inclusive cities.

This session examines how cities can build people-centred mobility systems that strengthen liveability, sustainability, and community connectivity. The Land Transport Authority (LTA), along with international mayors and global mobility experts, will share how human-centric planning, high-quality transport hubs, and seamless multimodal networks can elevate everyday journeys. 

Beyond infrastructure expansion, the session explores how public transport nodes can evolve into multi-use community hubs with vibrant public spaces; how streets can be redesigned to prioritise safety and accessibility for vulnerable users; and how transit corridors can double as green, active-mobility spines that promote healthier, low-carbon lifestyles, as well as becoming new destinations for cities. Together, the speakers will illustrate how human-centred mobility can shape more connected, inclusive and sustainable urban futures.

Led by Singapore Institute of Architects

At the heart of every beloved city is an invisible framework of coordination, policy, and governance, an unseen yet meticulous foundation laid by urban officials, city agencies, and planners for the City to be built upon. 

Acting as translators and synthesisers, Architects design buildings and spaces that bridge complex infrastructure, community, and environmental requirements to create meaningful and livable urban spaces. This session examines how various projects are made humane through thoughtful design whilst illuminating policy and innovation through cross-agency coordination, resulting in impactful interventions that ripple across the urban fabric. 

Through the lens of the end user, the featured projects showcase intangible outcomes such as trust, security, and implied safety, qualities we often take for granted but are essential for spaces that are not only well-used but well-loved. These outcomes emerge where careful policy, collaborative governance, and design thinking converge. 

Led by the World Resource Institute (WRI)

The WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities (the Prize) is a global impact award that identifies and spotlights exemplary practices in urban transformation that have had an outsized impact on their cities. The Prize looks beyond project-level outcomes toward wider infrastructural, cultural, societal, and governance transformations. Since its launch in 2018, the Prize has spotlighted 25 finalist initiatives that tackled urban transformation in various thematic domains and geographies, receiving over 1200 submissions across nearly 600 cities and disbursing $1.4 million in awards.

This panel will provide a high-level platform for exchange and collective imagination around how cites can learn, adapt, and lead through urban transformation. It will also identify how to build the will, collaboration, and investment to bring proven urban solutions to scale.

• What can cities do right now to meet the needs of their citizens?
• What are the key governance tools needed to make urban transformation efforts durable?
• How can cities ensure citizen collaboration and government accountability in shaping more livable and sustainable cities?
• How can urban transformation efforts shape healthier cities?

Under the theme "Championing Heritage for Loveable Cities," mayors from culturally vibrant cities will share insights on heritage-driven urban planning. These municipal leaders, whose cities exemplify culture-led regeneration, will demonstrate how proactive heritage policies generate tangible benefits, including strengthened community identity, economic vitality, and enhanced resident satisfaction. 

Through case studies and discussions, attendees will explore practical frameworks for integrating heritage into urban strategies, highlighting how cultural assets serve as catalysts for creating more attractive, sustainable cities that foster genuine connections between residents and their environment.

Key nodes in the global economy, port cities have been at the forefront of change and innovation for centuries. Because they are open to trade and the exchange of people, cultures and ideas, they are gateways for the adoption of new technologies and urban solutions, new models for economic growth and city living. Anchored by the water and their maritime heritage, port cities also serve as unique case studies in urban regeneration. 

This panel discussion brings together eminent port city leaders to share distinctive visions of how they have integrated port infrastructure into the fabric of city life, and how they continue to innovate and adapt, in the face of increasing uncertainty and a volatile geopolitical climate.