WCSC 2012 theme focuses on people

PETALING JAYA (June 5): The Fourth International Conference on World Class Sustainable Cities (WCSC) 2012 hopes to engage with the general public, it was shared at a press conference on Tuesday.

As a result, the theme for the conference is "Cities For People", and it hopes to highlight how a holistic approach where every stakeholder is engaged in dialogue benefits the city overall.

To be held on Sept 25 at the J W Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur, WCSC 2012 is co-organised by the Real Estate & Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) Wilayah Persekutuan (KL) Branch, the Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) and Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) with endorsement and support from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

"We hope to reach out to the stakeholders of the city," said N K Tong, co-organising chairman of the conference for Rehda KL. "The conference also provides an opportunity for dialogue with residents' associations." Tong shared that the previous three conferences spoke of conceptualised matters from a "helicopter view" and now he believed it is time to "humanise" the issues and bring it down to ground level.

"Cities are very organic," said Norliza Hashim, co-organising chairman for MIP. "The conference is to share best case studies how cities have transformed to be a place to live for a better quality of life." Norliza added that the conference is to create awareness to help Malaysian's realise that cities around the world are going to be where most of the population will congregate and as such a planning has to start now to find that balance to ensure KL is sustainable and livable.

The conference will feature two key note speakers from two cities renowned for their livability and transformation, namely Copenhagen, Denmark and Bilboa, Spain. The speakers are Dr Jan Gehl of Gehl Architects, will share on the topic of "Cities for People", who will bring his experiences on work transforming cities such as New York, London and Melbourne.

Additionally, there will be Alfonso Vegara of Fundacion Metropolis, who is also an architect-planner, who will share on "Bilboa Next – Regenerating Cities", about how the city was transformed into a sustainable and livable city.

"The conference is a very good collaboration with Rehda KL, MIP and PAM," said Saifuddin Ahmad, the co-organising chairman for PAM. "It is good that the three professions get together with the support of DBKL to work together as we share a common goal of where we want the city to be and with engagement of the public and bring ideas that have been proven overseas."

The conference is supported by DBKL as it seeking more engagement with the public for ideas as they start putting together detailed plans for the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.

"The WCSC 2012 conference is very beneficial to DBKL as we are planning our detailed plan for KL," said Nik Mastura Diyana, DBKL's deputy director of physical planning department." We want people's participation, such as residents' groups, NGO's and professional bodies, to get involved in the conference to get their views considered for the Draft Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2010."

To engage with the public more, there are two competitions — a photography and essay competition — that will close in Aug 17 with the announcement of the winners on Sept 25. The photography competition has one category for those under 18 years old, and an open category (excluding professional photographers).

The essay competition is open to undergraduates and graduates from architecture and planning schools with endorsement from their head of department. There is a maximum of 3,000 words, to be written in English.

The 2-day conference cost RM600 for Rehda, MIP, PAM and government members; RM700 for members of the general public and RM250 for students. WCSC 2012 will feature speakers on Sept 25 speaking to registered participants, followed by master classes only by invitation on Sept 26 with the key note speakers. Ideas brought up during the master classes will be forwarded to DBKL for consideration.

Previous conferences highlighted the transformation of Cheongyecheon River in Seoul, Korea; the city transportation solutions for Curitiba, Brazil; and the metamorphosis of Kaohsiung, Taiwan from an industrial polluter to an ecological tourist hub.