WeGO meets Smart City initiatives of Singapore
August 2, 2022
Seoul –While attending the World Cities Summit in Singapore, the WeGO Secretary General, Ms. Jung Sook Park, met with the two important entities in Singapore, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO), to further strengthen the ties between WeGO and Singapore.
On 2nd August 2022, the Secretary General of WeGO conducted a bilateral meeting with the Chief Executive of SLA, Mr. Colin Low. Being a statutory board under the Ministry of Law in Singapore, the SLA optimises land resources for the economic and social development of Singapore by maintaining the national land information database. The SLA plays an important role in developing geospatial data infrastructure and policies.
As the land in Singapore is limited and precious, Mr. Colin Low explained the vital role of the SLA is to safeguard land in Singapore and thus the SLA is directly under the Ministry of Law to avoid conflict of interest via check and balance. It has been further elaborated that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) does all planning while the SLA does the sale of the land. The SLA highlighted that Seoul is one of the forerunners in terms of sustainability, and thus SLA visited the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) in 2017 or 2018 to look at urban and sustainability issues and to learn from SMG. Based on various experiences, the SLA outlined that when it comes to urban development under the framework of the public-private partnership (PPP), it is not easy. The Chief Executive of the SLA elaborated that it looks good on paper, but once the project is out, a lot of issues occur.
As SLA emphasized the importance of geospatial data, Secretary General Park also acknowledged Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as one of the most effective tools to analyse urban challenges, facilitate urban planning, and assist in the city’s decision-making process. She introduced WeGO’s Workshop on Digital Urban Planning themed “Geographic Information Systems in Latin America” which was organized and conducted in November 2021.
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On 3rd August 2022, the Secretary General of WeGO visited the office of the SNDGO in Singapore and conducted a bilateral meeting with the Deputy Secretary of the SNDGO, Mr. Feng Ji Sim. Directly under the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore, the SNDGO plays an important role in planning and prioritising key Smart Nation projects by working with the public, private, and people sectors.
The Deputy Secretary of the SNDGO pointed out that both WeGO and SNDGO have similar prioritised areas, particularly on the element of “People” in smart sustainable development and the three Ds (Digital Skills, Digital Security, and Digital Ethics). In addition, the Deputy Secretary of the SNDGO also agrees with the WeGO Secretariat about the people-centric concept of smart city that is inclusive for everyone, including ageing society, and thus “Leaving No One Behind” while promoting and implementing smart sustainable development.
The SNDGO shared with the WeGO Secretariat that the SNDGO looks into four pillars, namely Smart City, Digital Economy, Digital Government, and Digital Society. The SNDGO pointed out that both SNDGO and the WeGO Secretariat has similar vision and concept as the SNDGO promotes inclusiveness via Digital Society while the WeGO Secretariat emphasizes the element of People in smart sustainable development.
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Singapore plays a vital role in the region of Southeast Asia, especially in terms of promoting smart sustainable development. For instance, the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) was established in 2018 during the ASEAN Chairmanship of Singapore. Recognizing the importance of Singapore, it is the honour of the WeGO Secretariat to initiate ties with the relevant entities in Singapore and to bring forward to further stages for potential collaboration.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), established by 50 founding members in 2010, is an international association of city and other local governments, smart tech solution providers, and national and regional institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul and supported by regional offices in Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), East Asia (Chengdu, China), Eurasia (Ulyanovsk Region, Russia), the Mediterranean (Beyoğlu, Turkey), and Latin America (Mexico City, Mexico).
WeGO has more than 200 members around the world and serves as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
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