Roundtable on ‘Globalisation and Cities’ organised by LKY CIC, SUTD and Global Cities Initiative
The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design and the Global Cities Initiative: a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JP Morgan Chase will be hosting a roundtable discussion on ‘Globalisation and Cities’ on Oct 31, 2012 at the Four Seasons Hotel. The roundtable is the inaugural event organised by the Centre for Innovative Cities, which was established in September 2012.
Professor Chan Heng Chee, Chairman of Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities and Mr Greg Clark, Senior Non- Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution will moderate the discussion. Participants at the roundtable include The Honorable Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; His Excellency Alvaro Uribe, former President of Colombia; The Honorable Richard M. Daley, former Mayor of Chicago and Chairman of the Global Cities Initiative; and The Honorable Carla Hills, former U.S. Trade Representative. Singapore participants include Mr. Mah Bow Tan, former Minister for National Development; Mr. Peter Ho, Chairman to the Urban Redevelopment Authority; Ms. Cheong- Chua Koon Hean, CEO of the Housing and Development Board; Dr. Liu Thai Ker, Chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities; Mr. Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director of Centre for Liveable Cities; Mr. Philip Ng, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of SUTD; Professor Thomas Magnanti, President of SUTD and Dr. Teh Kok Peng, Advisor of GIC.
The roundtable will explore how world cities are shaped by globalisation processes and how cities maintain their competitiveness and innovation. The questions they plan to explore include: What role does global engagement play in a city’s economic success? What explains Singapore’s success as a global city, one that is an economic hub and leader in innovation and solutions? What are the lessons for other cities seeking to define their economic development path in the 21st century?
”The LKY CIC is one of the first university centres in Asia to focus on the integrated use of technology and design to provide solutions for urban development and management.The Centre will also examine the governance challenges of cities in an age of globalisation and seek to understand how technology, connectivity and design can enhance innovation and growth in cities,” said Professor Chan “This roundtable discussion provides a great opportunity for LKY CIC, working with the Brookings Institution and JP Morgan Chase to gain the insights of an eminent group of leaders who have contributed to transforming their society through their work with cities.This is a great partnership,” she added.
“Cities are the world’s economic engines – they are hubs that foster thought leadership, creativity and opportunity,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. “There is a lot we can learn from Singapore, which is a city that has embraced global trade, investment, connectivity and innovation to achieve economic success in a short time. It is a fantastic story.”
About the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities
The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKY CIC) is established to stimulate thinking and research on the critical issues of cities and urbanisation and to provide breakthrough urban solutions. LKY CIC is one of five research centres in the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The University is pioneering an innovative model of global university education as it is founded as collaboration across three geographies between Singapore, MIT in the USA and Zhejiang University in China.
About the Global Cities Initiative
The Global Cities Initiativeis a five-year, $10 million collaboration between the Brookings Institution and J.P. Morgan Chase that aims to equip business, civic and government leaders from U.S. and global metropolitan areas with the information, policy ideas and global connections they need to thrive in the global economy. Chaired by Richard M. Daley, the former mayor of Chicago, and directed by Brookings’ Bruce Katz, the Global Cities Initiative is helping city and metropolitan leaders become more globally fluent by providing an in-depth and data-driven look at their regional standings on crucial global economic measures, highlighting best policy and practice innovations from around the world, and creating an international network of leaders who ultimately trade, invest and grow together.