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Better Cities Aug 2021
Better Cities, a monthly e-newsletter, updates friends and partners about the Centre’s work. The newsletter reaches an international audience of readers from government, media, academia, private sector and non-governmental organisations.
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Better Cities | Aug 2021
Smart and Resilient Cities
Smart Cities are Resilient, Integrated, and Built for the Future
Technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) can improve lives but may also increase vulnerabilities. Government and industry leaders discussed key priorities for positively transforming the future of smart cities: keeping data safe, making technologies green, improving systems, and supporting inclusivity.
Complexity Science for Resilient and Adaptable Cities
At the Urban Sustainability R&D e-Symposia webinar “Complexity Science for Resilient and Adaptable Cities”, speakers shed light on how complexity science can help cities be ready for increasingly unprecedented and complex challenges that will inevitably disrupt our urban systems.
Social media data are rich datasets that can enhance our understanding on human behaviours in space. Source: Prof Michael Batty
5 min read
Laying the Foundations for Modern Singapore
Singapore’s pioneers saw beyond immediate challenges to plan for Singapore’s future. Urban pioneers Chua Peng Chye and Joseph Yee reflect on the importance of long-term planning and the earlier years of shaping some critical aspects of the city, its land use and transport.
Singapore’s physical development has been guided by long-term plans laid by its urban pioneers. Source: Lukas Smith, Unsplash
5 min read
Urban Solutions #19 | Defeating Day Zero
Cape Town became the first major city to nearly run out of drinkable water in 2018, an almost apocalyptic scenario caused by persistent drought and water mismanagement. Within a few years, it successfully reversed this water crisis into an opportunity to secure a water-confident future.
Residents queue to fill water containers with spring water in Cape Town in February 2018. Source: Bram Janssen / AP Images
7 min read
Preparing for a Rainy Day: Climate-Ready Cities
Our climate crisis is already having serious consequences for our cities – from dangerously high temperatures to flooding. How can city leaders, urban planners and designers develop and execute plans to prepare and protect our urban economies, infrastructure, and our most vulnerable communities?
23 Sep 2021 (Thursday)
4:00pm – 5:30pm (GMT+8)
Building Trust with Humility and Regular, Genuine Conversations
COVID-19 has revealed the limitations of top-down solutions and highlighted the need to mobilise communities to face disruptions on the ground. Speakers at the WCS Session Engaging Communities, Building Resilience discussed key ways to do this: nurturing community leaders, addressing inequalities, and most importantly, building trust through open dialogue.