Greater Sydney should learn from positive aspects of urban development in Asian cities like Singapore and Shanghai, says the Urban Taskforce.
“Many planners and politicians seem to revert back to the comfort of European cities like Rome, Paris and Barcelona when looking for relevant case studies for Sydney’s urban growth,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “There are however many lessons to learn from the booming Asian cities in our own time zone.”
“The Urban Taskforce has undertaken research on global cities with a particular reference to the Asian cities of Singapore and Shanghai. This has led to a publication titled ‘Learning from Asian Cities – Singapore/ Shanghai/ Sydney’ (See flip book version below) that identifies the rise of both Shanghai and Singapore in rankings for Global Cities with Sydney also performing well.”
“Singapore is a 5 million person city just like Sydney but it has a greater density of development and still ranks quite high on the Mercer Quality of Living Index (2016) at 26 with Sydney at number 10 of 230 cities. Singapore is 20 times the density of Sydney at 7,130 people per square kilometre while Sydney is only 330 people per square kilometre yet the city ranks well on the liveability index. Sydney can learn from Singapore’s balancing of density and amenity as Sydney inevitably will increase its density.”
“Singapore has an excellent public transport system that has shifted travel away from cars, an incredible program to green the city and some dramatic buildings in its financial district. On top of this Singapore scores well on rankings of Global and World Cities sitting at 5th just above Shanghai.”
“Shanghai performs well on global city rankings but less well on Quality of Living rankings. The standout performance from Shanghai has been its Metro system with 1,000 kilometres built in the last 25 years.”
“The research project was undertaken jointly with Professor Richard Hu of Canberra University and an expert on global cities.”
NINE LESSONS SYDNEY CAN LEARN FROM SHANGHAI AND SINGAPORE
1. Cities with global connections get the best jobs
2. The Garden City epitomised by suburbia can also be urban
3. The spectacle of the city attracts tourism
4. Tall buildings are best in clusters
5. Metro Transport infrastructure comes with density
6. Mixed Use development makes cities dynamic
7. City models can be tourist attractions
8. Public spaces must interact with urban form
9. Denser cities need multiple ground levels
“With Sydney’s economic and cultural connections increasing with Asian cities it is important that planning lessons and case studies can be shared across cities like Singapore, Shanghai and Sydney.”
The electronic version of the research publication ‘Learning from Asian Cities – Singapore / Shanghai / Sydney’ can be accessed here: http://www.urbantaskforce.com.au/urbanideas/december2016/
