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Asian Urban Futures

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and School of Design and Environment (SDE) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) are organising a special session on Asian Urban Futures during the World Cities Summit (WCS) 2012 on 2 July 2012, in Singapore. The outputs of this session will be linked up with the preparations of the World Urban Forum 6 (WUF6) In Naples, Italy, which will take place in September 2012. Half of humanity currently lives in cities and by 2050 an estimated 75% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. All cities occupy 2% of Earth and account for 70% of carbon emissions. Urban areas however also present chances to reduce our ecological footprint by greening the economy through sustainable urban living and mobility, and improving our energy consumption, water and waste system and building technology. Asian cities have lifted millions out of poverty through economic growth but still are home to more than two thirds of the world’s poor who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. How can Asian urban inhabitants enjoy a quality of life with access to basic services, shelter and employment and at the same time build resilience to the impacts of climate change? Asian Urban Futures will address some of these urban issues and also will focus on integrative tools for computer aided planning and design on urban level, referred to as Urban Prototyping. During this co-located event Asian Urban Futures at the World Cities Summit 2012 (WCS2012) you are able to have dialogues and network with the following speakers:

Ms Aisa KIRABO KACYIRA, Deputy Executive Director and Assistant Secretary-General and Dr Kulwant SINGH of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) on Sustainable Provision of Urban Basic Services: water, sanitation, urban mobility and energy.

Prof Jürgen ROSEMANN and Prof FU Yuming, Vice-Dean, School of Environment and Design (SDE), National University of Singapore (NUS) on Urban Prototyping: to harness the growing computing power and network capabilities as well as the increasing availability of urban metabolic data and to create a new platform for urban information modeling, holistic simulation, and collaboration in urban planning, design, and policy interventions.

Dr Lai Choo MALONE-LEE, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities (CSAC), School of Design and Environment (SDE) at National University of Singapore (NUS) on Research Challenges for Urban Sustainable Living in High Density Cities.

Ms Theresa VILLAREAL, Head Project Management Unit, in People’s Republic of China Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Urban Development Projects in China.

The session will be moderated by Mr Atem RAMSUNDERSINGH, CEO of WEnergy Global Pte Ltd and Chairman of the Asia-Europe Foundation for Dialogue and Exchange on Sustainable Development (AEDESD). Date: Monday 2 July 2012 Time: 16:00 - 17:00 Venue: World Cities Summit (WCS) 2012, Expo Forum, Level 1, Expo Forum, Sands Expo &

Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Contact: Ms Oesha Thakoerdin E: o.thakoerdin@nus.edu.sg M +65 8218 2236 and Mr Kulwant

Singh E: kulwant.singh@unhabitat.org

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Speakers

Aisa KIRABO KACYIRA is Deputy Executive Director and Assistant Secretary-General for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). Aisa Kirabo brings to this position a broad knowledge and experience of over 15 years in senior management and strategic leadership in Government and Non-Government institutions; both national and international. Aisa Kirabo is the Former Governor of Eastern Province, the largest in Rwanda with a population of 2.5 million. Prior to that, she was Mayor of Kigali City, 2006-2011, one of the fastest urbanizing cities in the world. In recognition of the high level of cleanliness, greenness, safety and the sustainable, affordable housing initiatives combined with pro-poor urban employment opportunities, under Aisha Kirabo's leadership, Kigali won the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award in 2008. Prior to her position as Mayor, Aisa Kirabo was an Elected Member of Parliament - and member of Parliamentary Standing Committee in charge of land use and management, settlement and environment - she actively participated in the legislative and over-sight functions of parliament in addition to community mobilisation.

Kulwant SINGH started working with United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) as the Chief Technical Advisor for Asia and the Pacific since inception of the Water for Asian Cities Programme in 2003. Before joining UN-HABITAT, Dr Singh was Executive Director of Human Settlements Management Institute of India for twelve years. He was also the Managing Editor of the Quarterly Magazine SHELTER for more than a decade. Presently he is Advisor (Capacity Building & Programme Monitoring) both for the Mekong Region Water and Sanitation Initiative (MEK-WATSAN) as well as for the Water for Asian Cities (WAC) Programme, Water, Sanitation & Infrastructure Branch of the UN-HABITAT. During the last four years, Dr. Singh has organised several international workshops for the Media to sensitise Media on water and sanitation issues. Dr Singh is a visiting faculty of the UNESCO-IHE Institute, the Netherlands. His teaching, training, capacity building and research interests are very wide. Dr Singh has been in the urban sector for the last two decades. He was also Director of the Association of Municipal and Development Authorities (AMDA) India. An Indian national, Dr Singh is Post-graduate in Development Finance from Birmingham University, U.K. Masters in Economics at the Panjab University, Chandigarh, an MPhil (Regional Development) in 1984 and a PhD in Regional Infrastructure Development from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi in 1990. He has several books to his credit in the field of Infrastructure Development and Urban Management and has published widely in international refereed journals in the area of Water and Sanitation. He has nearly fifty publications to his credit. Currently he is the Managing Editor of the Quarterly Newsletter of the UN-HABITAT Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific and WAC Programme.

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Jürgen ROSEMANN is, since 2010, Visiting Professor at the School of Design and Environment (SDE), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Emeritus Professor at Delft University of Technology (DUT). Besides, he is chairman of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU). From 1982 he held a professorship at the Faculty of Architecture, DUT. In this framework he was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Director of the Housing Research Institute (RIW), Head of the Department of Housing and Urban Renewal, Founding Member of the Netherlands Graduate School for Housing and Urban Research (NETHUR), Member of the Board of Governors of OTB-Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies, Member of the Educational Board of the European Postgraduate Master in Urbanism (EMU) and Chair Urban Renewal and Management. Between 2000 and 2010 he also was Chairman of the Board of Governors, later Board of Supervisors, of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. His publications have appeared in the fields of globalisation, urban transformation, renewal and management, housing and sustainable urban development.

FU Yuming currently serves as Vice Dean for Research at the School of Design and Environment (SDE) and is Associate Professor at the Department of Real Estate at SDE of the National University of Singapore (NUS). His research focuses on urban economic development and real estate markets, especially in the Asia context. His work has been published in American Economic Review, Journal of Urban Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Real Estate Economics, and Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics. He is Board Member of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) and Member of the Editorial Board of the Association's flagship journal Real Estate Economics. He is Visiting Fellow at the Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.

Lai Choo MALONE-LEE is Director of the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities (CSAC), School of Design and Environment (SDE) at National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr Malone-Lee obtained her Master in Urban Planning from the University of Sydney, Australia, and read her PhD at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, under a Fellowship awarded by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS). She was a Colombo Plan Scholar and a JSPS gold medallist. Her current research interest is in the areas of urban planning policies and strategies for sustainable cities, focusing on the issues of densification, liveability and resource optimisation. She is Co-principal Investigator of two major funded research projects on city benchmarking and density thresholds. Prior to joining NUS, Dr Malone-Lee has a distinguished civil service career, working professionally in the areas of strategic planning, planning policies and heritage conservation. She is actively involved in various government committees, focus groups and policy think tanks, and has consulted with private and public sector organisations, and international agencies such as United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). She is also Board Member of Singapore’s National Parks Board.

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Theresa J. VILLAREAL is currently the Head of Portfolio Management in the operations of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in People’s Republic of China based in Beijing, managing a team in the administration of 38 projects in urban development, agriculture, transport and energy sectors and a member of ADB’s Water Community of Practice and Urban Community of Practice. Prior to joining ADB in 2005, she has accumulated 25 years of infrastructure development consulting experience across sectors with various bilateral and multilateral agencies from project preparation, financial/ economic evaluation, implementation, and post evaluation in various regions in Asia, Mexico and Caribbean3. She holds a Business Economics degree, an MA Economics and Ph D candidate in Urban Development Planning from University of the Philippines.

Atem RAMSUNDERSINGH is to be appointed as CEO and Member of the Board of Director of WEnergy Global Pte Ltd, a company specialized in delivering renewable energy systems. He is also Director of FloodConsult Pte Ltd, a company providing risk-management advisory services to industrial leaders in flood risks. He was the former CEO and Member of the Board of Directors of Turiya Technologies Pte Ltd, active in the semi-conductor industry and in the palm oil sector. He is Chairman of the Asia-Europe Foundation for Dialogue and Sustainable Development (AEDESD), through which he contributed to collaborative projects aiming at promoting green growth. Atem Ramsundersingh brings in over 20+ years of extensive international experience about business and project development in emerging economies and in complex decision-making. He has a vast network of contacts in over 65 countries. He has in-depth understanding of dynamics, opportunities and threats of globalization, technology evolution, human development, climate pressures and limiting resources (water, energy, food and minerals). One of his significant achievements has been the development and implementation of an action-strategy for the corporatization of 350 water utilities serving over 100 million urban habitants in Indonesia. He served as Chief Advisor to National and Local Governments on long term visioning of cities. He worked with The World Bank Group (USA) and the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water (The Netherlands). He holds a Masters Degree in Infrastructure Engineering of TU Delft, The Netherlands and has been trained at the Harvard Business School (USA) and at Cambridge University’s Center for Sustainable Industry (UK).