Speakers:

Mr. Barry Wilson, President of HKIUD, will discuss why changes in understanding of health impacts and livability will see cities innovate to release the potential of swathes of public realm currently dedicated to road space, whilst Mr. Tan Shee Tiong will discuss with us the new advances in technology for new mobility systems and the impact to future urban development, how can this vision be achieved and whether it is a good approach for Singapore’s future urban development.

Speaker - Mr. Barry Wilson : Unleashing Urban Street Potential – Repurposing Streets to People’s Needs.

The land area dedicated to vehicles in many American cities is over 50%. Whilst European cities are typically closer to 25% and Asian cities somewhere between the two, it's still a vast area of public realm provided at the expense of other, more productive investments. With the imminent death of the internal combustion engine due to health concerns and climate necessities, combined with the increasingly limited access of private vehicles in cities, the land available to be released from standard roads and parking can be radically transformed for the better. How will this change land utilisation, how can parking be repurposed and what should be the immediate approaches to urban parking in transition? Many cities are initiating remarkable and rapid transformations, adding cycle paths, wider pedestrian pavements, and safer, slower streets, yet advances in smart technologies and particularly automated safety and response systems that can accompany fully automated vehicle districts should allow much more significant repurposing of streets back to civic spaces for interaction, pleasure and play.

Speaker - Mr. Tan Shee Tiong : The Future is Here

We are living in a brave new world of metaverse and chatgpt. Five years ago PM Lee Hsien Loong talked about vision of a car-lite Singapore. Two years later ex-Dean of LKY School of Public Policies Kishore Mahbubani dreamt of a car-free Singapore. Today, we heard of the new linear city of Neom will be car-free and serviced by hyperloop. Then we heard China is developing its own hyperloop running at 4000km/hr. Singapore has a vision of a truly smart nation by 2025, but autonomous cars and buses are already running in Beijing and Shenzhen. My students at NUS are imagining all future cars are on demand, no ownership and no parking provision. They even consider mass public transport are no good for post-pandemic healthy cities. Are we still holding Kevin Lynch’s “The Image of the City” or David Sim’s “Soft City” close to our hearts to battle the technology advances? Are we ready for the battle between man and machine, and the virus? Are we ready for the change?