Hello. My name is [inaudible]. I'm a senior researcher at the Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore ETH Center. I will speak about the city state of Singapore as a case study of complex metropolitan governance. During my presentation, I will outline the recent socioeconomic developments of Singapore. This will lead to the Singapore model that I will explain in part 1 and the implementation of this model in part 2. Singapore is often portrayed as a country that developed from third world to first within just a few decades. This is also evident by looking at the key indicators. Singapore now caters to a population of about 5.7 million that live on a relatively small territory. The economic indicators show a pattern of growth which represents a modern, well-developed city-state. The founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, portrayed Singapore as the little red dot without hinterland. While it is true that a territory of only 700 square kilometers is perceived as it's nothing but a dot on the map of Southeast Asia, this narrative needs to be unpacked. Among the many challenges faced by Singapore post-independence, Lee Kuan Yew set a priority on maintaining a strong economy as the engine of growth and development by attracting foreign investment. The little red dot narrative also called for the massive territorial expansion of the country, approximately 25 percent were added in an ongoing land reclamation process by the sea. This newly gained land was free from pre-colonial lease obligations and could be developed as pleased. This new territory became an attractive place for more domestic and foreign investment into real estate. The government being at the same time the owner of the land, stakeholder in semi-private construction companies and banks, controls to public and private real estate markets. I would now like to unpack and question the little red dot narrative. This narrative idealizes Singapore's path to modernity. It perpetuates an economic and territorial growth as only way forward. It silences alternative narratives and critique, does not acknowledge the complexity and role of Singapore's hinterland and fails to offer answers in a complex and globalizing context. The Singapore model consists of fragmented, discreet lessons of which the most tangible are: a control of industrialization and migration, a transition from a garden city into a city in a garden, referencing to the extensive green spaces and parks, an implementation of the National Public Housing Program, housing estate planning and allocation, and finally, exporting urban planning expertise. Securing Singapore's place in a globalizing world and in a post growth society, required looking at the prevailing Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore growth triangle. This triangle is basically consisting of different parts where Singapore contributes capital and skilled labor; Malaysia, land, resources; Indonesia, unskilled labor. Singapore's geo strategic location is gradually challenged by the Chinese Belt and Road iInitiative. Singapore needs to reinvent itself to be part of the game, yet at the same time, it's threatened by developments that happened right at its doorsteps. Here we see a map drawn for the promotion of the Forest City in Malaysia, a Chinese direct investment project that aims to compete directly with Singapore. Is Singapore at the risk of becoming China's hinterland? I will now move to the second part of my presentation, namely the implementation of the Singapore model. This model has two aspects, a spatial component, often reference to as livability, sustainability, and resilience and a digital component. Livability, sustainability, and resilience are exemplified in the new town of Ponggol at the north of Singapore. Here we see the so-called Housing Development Board, build housing estate together with the metro line and green and blue features for the residents, encompassing the idea of livability, sustainability, and resilience. The digital aspect of the Singapore model is based on three pillars that form the smart nation Singapore, digital economy, digital governance and digital society. Singapore takes a citizen-centered approach to societal transformation. It's based on the total control of data that is put at use to redevelop the Singapore model further. The Singapore Model is gradually becoming a blueprint for global smart cities. It has already been exported to various cities in Southeast Asia and China, but I want to highlight the most recent case of Amaravati, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh in India. Here, Singaporean planners, experts, and companies deliver a holistic package for a global smart city of the future. Singapore takes a so-called whole-of-government approach to tackle uncertainty and to develop scenario planning. The whole of government approach consists of including all parts of the governmental structures, from ministries to authorities, all the way down to the individual citizens and tackle these complex problems. Research at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore is tackling so-called wicked or complex problems. We do this by harnessing the power of information technology supported by integrated transdisciplinary planning and with our approach that engages the large scale and complexity of Future City systems.
