WCSC 2016 to be held on Sept 8

KELANA JAYA (April 29): The 8th International Conference on World Class Sustainable Cities (WCSC 2016) will be held on Sept 8 with the theme “City Spaces, Public Places”.

Four speakers from the US, Australia, Shanghai and Singapore will share their experiences on bringing vibrancy to their city’s public spaces at the annual conference, which will be held at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The speakers are New York City commissioner Mitchell Silver, Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority chief executive officer Ng Lang, Melbourne City urban sustainability manager Ian Shears and a representative from Shanghai Gensler Architects.

WCSC organising chairman and Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Kuala Lumpur Branch secretary Chan Kin Meng said WCSC has attracted over 600 participants locally and from overseas every year since its inception in 2009.

“We expect about 550 participants from government agencies, residents associations, researchers, students and academicians from urban planning and development, industry players and private companies to participate this year,” he told reporters at WCSC’s press conference yesterday.

WCSC is jointly organised by Rehda, Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) and Malaysian Institute of Architects.

It is endorsed and supported by Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

Chan noted that WCSC could be an aspirational platform for city planners, developers and researchers as the discussion topics could inspire new ideas which may lead to infrastructure developments that benefit the city – for instance, the River of Life development.

MIP president Md Nazri Mohd Noordin said well-planned public spaces could improve public safety and create vibrancy, which could in turn attract local and foreign investors to Malaysia as safety levels are one of the main concerns to investors.

In conjunction with WCSC 2016, photography and essay writing competitions with the theme “City Spaces, Public Spaces” were launched to invite students and the public to share their thoughts of the city.

Meanwhile, there will also be a Young People’s Lab activity which engages youths to plan and design their dream city; and master classes for smaller groups who are interested in learning more about city planning.

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This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on April 29, 2016, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com here for free.