Dear FCL Global Community,
Over this past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Young Leaders Symposium alongside my peers and colleagues from SEC, including Chenyi, Qiming, Joshua, Lawrence, Pradeep, Tanya, and Yang. The symposium, which forms part of the 9th edition of the World Cities Summit, gathered 129 participants and featured an engaging discussion led by esteemed panellists. The panel discussion, themed ‘Building Resilience: Community Engagement for Social Resilience’, included Alvin Tan, the Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore; Luke Wu, the Head of Innovation at Kajima; Danela Arsovska, the Mayor of Skopje, and Daniel Sazonov, the Deputy Mayor of Helsinki, and was moderated by Associate Professor Orlando Woods, SMU.
During the breakout group discussions, which involved 20-minute brainstorming sessions, two highly relevant questions were explored:
- How can we ensure a human-centric approach to smart technologies in developing smart cities of the future?
- How may current community decisions around technology impact the future of communities?
Many groups highlighted the importance of building trust and reliability in technology through stakeholder engagement, as well as the significance of human-centric urban solutions and the intentional use of technology. There was a consensus among participants on the need for capacity building, inclusion, and smart governance to ensure that future technology advancements contribute to the development of truly "smart" cities.
For me, it was refreshing to meet many people outside of academia. Some of the Young Leaders are within government agencies and work to promote Singapore’s sustainable tech future. Others are local and foreign start-up founders and employees with a deep commitment to sustainable development across urban sectors, like women’s healthcare and food service. These interactions left me inspired and enriched with new perspectives. My key takeaways from the symposium include the importance of empowering local communities, especially youth, in the process of embedding future technology into urban solutions. Additionally, I believe that cities in developing countries should approach data collection and technological processes with intentionality and a focus on capacity building and resilience, particularly in the face of climate change and rapid urbanisation.
Have a good weekend ahead!
