Yu-Ning Hwang: What Makes a City Truly Liveable?

The Century of Cities welcomes Yu-Ning Hwang, Singapore's first Chief, Urban Innovation & Excellence at the Ministry of National Development and Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities, as our special series continues in association with the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum and the Centre for Liveable Cities.

A key figure in Singapore's urban development, Yu-Ning reflects on the decisions that transformed Singapore from the 1980s into one of the world's most liveable high-density cities, and what it will take to keep that progress going. She explores the evolution from a "City in a Garden" to a city where nature is integrated throughout the urban system, and why liveability must be continually renewed rather than treated as a finished achievement. She introduces a more regenerative approach to city-making: moving beyond simply reducing the impact of development to asking whether our decisions can leave cities better than before. She also shares the thinking behind the Mayors Forum and why the most valuable urban lessons may come not from copying another city, but from understanding its successes, setbacks, and principles, and adapting them to your own.