How smart cities can serve citizens

Source: December 1st, 2020 Published: Phys.Org

Although cities and urban areas only make up a small proportion of the world's landmass, they are home to more than half the global population and that number is going to keep rising. As cities swell to capacity with more and more inhabitants, city planners have turned to technology to cope with the challenges that accompany urban density.

The role of digital technologies in overcoming urban development challenges have become even more apparent in the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration.

"This pandemic has starkly shown us that we need to transform the way we design, build and maintain our city so that we move away from a heavy reliance on manpower and labor, [and that] the use of digital tools and technology has a potential to create good jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans," Minister Lee said.

Minister Lee was the guest of honor at the Dentons Rodyk Dialogue 2020, held online on 25 September 2020. A partnership between Singapore law firm Dentons Rodyk and Singapore Management University's (SMU) Centre for Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia (CEBCLA), the yearly Dialogue serves as a forum for thought leaders to share ideas and interrogate key trends shaping the future. This year, the Dialogue explored the opportunities and challenges posed by the rise of global smart cities, and was moderated by Mr Philip Jeyaratnam, Global Vice Chair and ASEAN CEO, Dentons Rodyk.

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Photo by Swapnil Bapat on Unsplash