(Text: Jerome Yau)

HONG KONG, January 21, 2016 - City planners, government officials, and academics from the region gathered at Asia Society Hong Kong Center on January 21 to share their experience and best practices in town planning, hoping that the next new towns in Asia will be green, sustainable, and people-friendly.

At the symposium, Singapore’s Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tung remarked that “Hong Kong and Singapore are prime examples of livable cities.” He suggested that city planners can learn from the experience and best practices of both places when designing the next Asian new towns. On the other hand, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, C.Y. Leung, commented that “new towns are not only solutions, [but] they can show innovation, imagination, and enterprise.”

Sean Chiao, President, Asia Pacific of AECOM, noted that the symposium would inspire stakeholders “to think more deeply about the idea of city making [and] to rethink and redefine how our new towns will be and how we can make them into a vibrant community.”

Hong Kong’s development minister, Paul Chan, told the audience that low carbon, smart technology, and livability are key principles in designing the next new towns in the city. Similarly, Limin Hee, Director of Singapore’s Centre for Livable Cities, outlined how the Lion City’s Smart Nation initiative will create people-centric communities by harnessing the power of technology.

All the panelists recognized the need to contain urban sprawls, and that new towns should be developed in ways that are sustainable and humanist.
 

Video: Watch the complete program (3 hr., 5 min.)