Liveability Framework: Part 8 – Case Studies from Cities Around the World

Introduction

Liveability in urban environments is not a static concept.  It is a continuously evolving construct that changes with each city’s development phase and is shaped by emerging individual perceptions and aspirations on urban lived experiences, as well as dynamic external forces.  Responding to current and emerging challenges, the Liveability Framework (LF) serves as a practical but non-prescriptive reference for city leaders, policymakers and planners to plan liveable and sustainable cities of the future.

Liveability Framework. Image from the Centre for Liveable Cities

While the LF had been developed based on Singapore’s urban development experience, many of the principles may resonate with cities around the world. By and large, most cities aspire towards common desired liveability outcomes, and aim to deploy integrated master planning and development approaches, strive towards dynamic urban governance and to leverage collaborative ecosystems to achieve them.

Laureate cities of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize – a biennial international award that honours outstanding achievements and contributions towards the creation of liveable, vibrant and sustainable urban communities around the world – have been highly regarded for their exemplary urban initiatives. They include Bilbao (2010), New York City (2012), Suzhou (2014), Medellin (2016), Seoul (2018), Vienna (2020) and Mexico City (2024). Despite their contextual differences, varying developmental pathways and governance structures, these cities’ successful programmes to improve to urban liveability have corroborated to a large extent with the LF principles. This article looks at innovative urban solutions from the first three laureate cities, while the remaining four will be featured in Part 9 of this series.

Bilbao

View of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum on the banks of the Nervión River. Image courtesy of Unsplash.

In 2010, Bilbao was awarded the inaugural Prize in recognition of its integrated and holistic approach to urban regeneration. Achieved through effective governance and integrated planning over some 25 years, Bilbao’s urban transformation has enhanced the quality of life for its people, reinvented its economy and beautified its city scape.

Bilbao established a strong public-private-partnership (PPP) entity, Bilbao Ria 2000, as a platform for key decision-making, allowing alignment and conflict resolution for land development. The innovative governance model had been instrumental in the rejuvenation of the city. The city had also transformed its derelict Abandoibarra port district into a vibrant mixed-use area anchored by the Guggenheim Museum and other cultural landmarks. This success had stemmed from comprehensive infrastructure investments and effective long-term planning.

The city continues to forge international partnerships, such as hosting the Urban Revolution Aurreral International Congress in 2023 and 2024, which saw the launch of the Bay Urban Visioning Awards and the Urban Revolution Aurrera! Manifesto as initiatives to build a community of stakeholders across the world for advancing urban innovation.

Building on its successful urban rejuvenation experience, Bilbao continues to strengthen its resilience through integrated planning and collaborative ecosystems.

New York City

View of New York City’s Skyline. Image courtesy of Unsplash.

New York City is a preeminent global city. From its founding as a Dutch trading post in the 1660s, New York City has been associated with the promise of opportunity and global influence. Despite the periodic catastrophes such as devastating wildfires and economic crashes, to challenges such as crime and strained infrastructure, New York City has remained resilient throughout due their strong urban systems in place, enabling the city to continuously rebuild and reinvent itself.

In 2007, the city launched PlaNYC, a holistic blueprint aimed at accommodating a million more residents by 2030, addressing the need for 21^st century jobs, renewing physical infrastructure, and preparing for climate change. The plan's effectiveness and progress were tracked through various metrics. This combination of long-term thinking, systematic innovation, and efficient execution with the PlaNYC has maintained New York's status as a leading global city, and led to its recognition as the 2012 Prize laureate.

New York City also works closely with its wider ecosystem of stakeholders. For instance, the city is collaborating on various projects with Rebuild by Design, a non-profit that has helped to foster innovative solutions for storm protection not just in New York City but across the state of New York. The city’s commitment to enhance civic participation can be seen from The People’s Money, a participatory budgeting initiative which invites community members to decide how to spend part of the city’s budget.

New York City’s dynamic urban governance, collaborative ecosystems, and holistic developmental approach continue to support its liveability goals and inspire others.

Suzhou

Birds-eye view of Suzhou. Image courtesy of Unsplash.

Suzhou is a city known for its rich cultural heritage, with meticulously designed classical Chinese gardens, network of canals and bridges, and tangible remnants of its ancient arts and crafts history. After decades of rapid urban expansion, the city's development strategy has evolved from purely economic focus towards holistic liveability outcomes.

Suzhou has emerged as a smart city leader, integrating digital technologies across urban systems. Its standout innovation, the City Information Model (CIM), creates a digital twin for real-time monitoring and analysis. Digital technology has enriched cultural tourism experiences in the city and created new opportunities for local enterprises and SMEs on virtual platforms. Suzhou is able to further utilise digitalisation to feed back into existing systems to generate a more than proportionate return on liveability outcomes.

Suzhou has also actively embraced PPPs to finance and execute urban development projects, accelerating infrastructure development and innovation by leveraging on private enterprises’ expertise. The Suzhou Centre project, a joint venture between the Suzhou Industrial Park and Singapore-based CapitaLand, exemplifies this approach. The project comprising of commercial, residential and cultural spaces located right next to the historic Jinji Lake and traditional Suzhou city had revitalised the city’s waterfront area and became a symbol of the city’s economic prosperity and modernisation.

Suzhou’s transformation shows its consistent commitment to balance between economic growth and preservation of the built and cultural heritage, while employing strong urban systems to enhance liveability – achievements that earned the city its 2014 Prize laureate title.

Conclusion

The above Laureate cities have shown how putting in place sound urban systems can help achieve a competitive economy, a sustainable environment and high quality of life outcomes. Many of the outcomes and system principles outlined in the LF have been demonstrated by these cities. Despite differing development contexts, the value of cross-learning to engender inspiring breakthroughs should be recognised as key in the ongoing quest for urban liveability.

For more information on the case studies on the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Laureate cities, please refer to Chapter 5: Case Studies from Around the World, here.

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