Singapore has come a long way in her mission to become a highly competitive and cosmopolitan city.  Along the urbanisation journey, we have pursued sustainable and forward-looking public policies, some of which may not have been popular.  We have had successes.  But we also have areas where we could have done better.  Both contribute to our experience in urban planning and guide how we approach the challenges of today.

 

The process of urbanisation is intensifying in many Asian economies.  Emerging cities are expanding at unprecedented speed, resulting in social stress, infrastructure bottlenecks, environmental erosion and governance issues.  As the process of globalisation intensifies, it will become increasingly crucial for both developed and emerging countries to identify emerging trends and adapt to new challenges in order to renew their competitiveness.  Independent research on the relative competitiveness of economies will help to identify such trends, which includes softer aspects such as the liveability of cities.

 

ACI’s new book is thus a useful investigation of how the ordinary resident in a city perceives its liveability.  ACI’s work, in studying the development of competitiveness in Asia, could help to shape regional policy-making with the ultimate objective of raising living standards through productivity-driven economic growth. 

 

I congratulate the five authors of ‘Ranking the Liveability of the World’s Major Cities: The Global Liveable Cities Index’ and hope that the insights provided would enable urban planners around the world to design and build more liveable cities for their residents.

 

I wish you all a fruitful learning journey at this World Cities Summit Forum. Thank you.