INTERNATIONAL
CALENDAR

         

Center for Livable Cities

Michael Koh, Executive Fellow and Stewart Tan, Deputy Director

The Center for Livable Cities is a division of the Ministry of National Development of Singapore, and it is housed inside the Urban Rehabilitation Authority building. Promoting and showing the success of the Singapore model is a central element of their work and preoccupations.

The Center for Livable Cities has a history of relations with Metropolis, participated in the Montreal Congress, co-published a comparative document of 5 case studies of Affordable Housing Policy with Metropolis and Montreal, and Michael knows well Octavi and Agnès. A large part of the conversation we had was about international events. They host a Cities Summit (quite regionally oriented to Asia) every two years (next one in Singapore, 2-6 June 2024). They also give the Lee Kwan Yew prize, and convene the winners (next Mayor Forum will take place in Seoul on 24-26 September, 2023). We discussed the need to better coordinate calendars for big city events. They see themselves as an events’ organizer, in addition to their other functions.

Michael Koh explained how Octavi and Agnès had once suggested that Singapore become a member, but the fact that Singapore is a country makes it not possible, in their eyes. Perhaps we could target the Centre for Livable Cities to become an associate member, but full membership of Singapore seems not workable for the time being. That said, if what we want is the Singaporean experiences and lessons learned, we could partner with CLC.