- Dr Dieter Salomon, Lord Mayor of Freiburg, Germany
Freiburg has been leading environmental policy and practice for over two decades in Europe, exemplifying its long-term commitment to sustainability. Known for its track record in environment innovation or eco-innovation, Freiburg is an international showcase for sustainable urban development. Eco-innovation presents immense new business potential across a multitude of industries. What lies ahead for cities in terms of opportunities for eco-innovation? How can governments play a role through various policy instruments and legislation to facilitate commercialisation and adopting of such innovation?
Sustainability is the most important guideline of Freiburg’s urban policy. Freiburg intends to reduce all CO2-emissions by 40 percent until 2030 through a mix of political actions:
- energy conservation and renewable energy
- energy efficiency
- reduction of automobile traffic
- environment-friendly means of transportation
- „city of short distances“
- active commitment of the citizens
Freiburg´s urban policy supports networks to connect the citizenry with science, industry, transportation companies, and other institutions. The field of environmental economy has become a fast-growing economic factor.
“Green City Freiburg” and the model district Vauban stand as a synonym for sustainable policy which is actively maintained by all political parties and interest groups, and actively supported everyday by our citizens.
- The Right Honorable, The Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne
Talent is key to driving economic growth. The ability of cities to attract and retain talent becomes an important determinant of sustained economic competitiveness. People gravitate to places where they find the best conditions and opportunities to live, work and grow. In the same way, businesses move to where talent and opportunities are available. In today’s global economy marked by high talent mobility, cities face intense competition in attracting global talent and businesses concurrently. What policies and strategies can cities adopt to enhance their value proposition in this regard?
Talent is a key driver for economic growth. People gravitate to places where they find the best conditions to live, work and grow. In the same way, businesses move to where talent and opportunities are available. In today’s global economy marked by high talent mobility, cities face intense competition in attracting global talent and business concurrently.
As city leaders we share an interest in how do we position our cities to attract innovation and creativity? Beyond the institutional and regulatory arrangements and favourable business environments, what are the new set of factors emerging that will see successful cities act as global magnets for talent, innovation and prosperity?
- Dr Liu Thai Ker, Director, RSP Architects Planners & Engineers Ptd Ltd, Singapore & Chairman, Centre for Liveable Cities Advisory Board
Connecting Vision to Master Plan
When it comes to urban planning, the world is not short of visions. There are visions on liveability, sustainability, environmental technologies, urban aesthetics and so on.
The challenge is to CONNECT these abstract and verbal ideas into concrete, spatial, and physical urban parts, which if properly connected, imbibe the various worthy visions, and combine them into a beautiful, humane Machine for Living.
In planning a city, there are three possible approaches to the plans. To plan what we like, what we can, or what we must. The first two are seductive, soft options. They require little hard work or know-hows. The challenge is to make a commitment to choose the third – to plan what we must. In the process, we need to acquire the massive skills to connect the visions to a sound plan, in the service of this vast, complicated, man-made machine for living.
To know what we must do, and connect visions to plans – this is the beginning of a successful urbanization.
- Mr Joel Kotkin, Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California, USA
Historically most societies worried about overpopulation. But many advanced industrial societies now face an opposite dilemma: rapid aging and eventual depopulation. This points to the importance of families – the bedrock of all successful societies. Unfortunately many things associated with the overused phrase ‘sustainable’, for example restrictions on space for middle or working class people, tend to depress child-bearing. Sustainable societies are not just about having clean water and air, but also enough children and generational diversity to thrive and create a future. How do we build societies that are environmentally sensitive, but still can accommodate families?
In “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050,” I wrote that America’s “demographic vitality” — driven by high birthrates and continuing influx of immigrants — can make it not only bigger but also better when the population passes 400 million before mid-century. Key here is not so much the numbers, but the variations in age. Societies need to retain some balance between young, old and middle-aged. This means a greater focus has to be placed on families. Unfortunately many of the elements associated with the overused phrase ‘sustainable’, for example, restrictions on space for middle or working class people tend to depress child-bearing. Children and families are the bedrock of all successful societies, whether Western or Eastern, Judeo-Christian-Muslim or Confucian. Without family, society becomes brittle and unsustainable. Dependence on the state – or multi-national corporations – is exacerbated as people abandon what President Jefferson called “the little Republics” and relate only to the mass society.
This analysis holds good news and bad for a smaller, diverse place like Singapore. On the one hand, it will benefit from immigration –with all the inputs and influences that accompany it- in a way few Asian countries are likely to experience. Yet at the same time very low birthrates threaten the long-term prospect. Sustainable societies are not just about having clean water and air, but also enough children and generational diversity to thrive. Without some recovery of the birthrate, advanced societies become too narcissistic and made up of aging people who are necessarily dependent on immigrant workers, often from other cultures. This is not a good prospect.
The key to my talk will be about how to build societies that are environmentally sensitive, but still can accommodate families.
- Dr Vishakha Desai, President of Asia Society
The unprecedented velocity of change in the globalizing cities of Asia creates a great danger for the survival of local traditions that have provided a cultural mooring for societies. From the experiences of major world cities, artists have demonstrated their potential to transform places, however dilapidated they may be, into a vibrant, safe communities. Deliberate efforts must therefore be committed toward the rejuvenation of intangible heritage of local arts and culture in Asian cities, such that they become integral to the cities’ economic, educational, and spiritual development.
Role of Culture in the Age of Globalizing Cities
The unprecedented velocity of change in the globalizing cities of Asia creates a great danger for the survival of local traditions that have provided a cultural mooring for societies. In this fast-changing environment, there has to be a strong emphasis on the rejuvenation of intangible heritage of local cultures as well as on the encouragement of new creative pursuits. This is not only good for the well-being of the citizens, it actually makes good business sense too.
Major world cities in the west--New York and London for example--have proved that support for the arts generates huge revenues. It is estimated that arts and culture industry of New York generates $18 billion in revenues per year. In all major surveys on livability of major cities, access to arts and culture rates high as a sought-after quality by executives of multinational firms.
Artists have also proved, time and again, that when they come into a neighborhood, however dilapidated it may be, they transform it into a vibrant, safe community. New York is full of such successful examples, from Soho and Chelsea in Manhattan to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, it is not simply that the vitality of artistic pursuits attracts other commercial interests, more significantly, it is because as a culture theorist, and Carol Becker points out, “artists gestures have the potential to cut across barriers, real or imagined - they have the capacity to bridge the dislocation, to find the past in the present or to see the future pre-figured in the past.” Global cities of Asia have the opportunity and an obligation to assure that arts and culture are integral to their economic, educational, and spiritual development.
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