Singapore Exports Its Government Expertise in Urban Planning
By SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP
Published: April 27, 2010
SINGAPORE — Last autumn, Singapore’s senior minister of state for national development and education helped officiate at the groundbreaking for a housing development in a new “eco city†that eventually will be home to 350,000 people. But the metropolis — featuring a power plant fueled by organic waste, pedestrian-oriented urban design and plenty of green space — is nowhere near Singapore: It is in northeastern China.
Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City is a $22 billion effort to turn an expanse of nonarable salt pan and deserted beaches into a 30-square-kilometer, or 11.5-square-mile, urban area southeast of Tianjin. For China, the project is intended to showcase resource-efficient technologies and serve as a model for other new cities in the country.
For Singapore, a city-state of five million with few natural resources and one of the highest population densities in the world, it is another chance for its companies to cash in on decades of government investment in urban planning.
In the 1960s, Singapore suffered from severe overcrowding, poor living conditions and a lack of infrastructure. Today, thanks to numerous public housing and land reclamation projects, a modern international financial and business hub stands where slums and squatters once resided.
“In the past 40 years, we’ve acquired a good reputation for our design and master plan for urban development. A lot of cities have come here asking us how we did it, and how we got where we are in this short span of time,†said Wong Kai Yeng, group director of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority International, referring to growth since the former British colony gained independence in 1965.
Rapid, uncontrolled urbanization in developing countries is creating environmental as well as socioeconomic problems, including the growth of slums and increases in air pollution and waste. What the World Bank describes as possibly the biggest challenge of the 21st century is also a giant business opportunity for those ready to share their know-how.
While many engineering and architectural firms do business globally, Singapore is unusual in its systematic governmental efforts to export the country’s public-sector expertise — in effect, selling pieces of the Singapore Inc. model.
“What we see Singapore doing differently from other cities in the developed world is that in addition to offering technical assistance, it has cleverly harnessed these interests into its economic growth strategy,†said Abha Joshi Ghani, manager of the urban development and local government unit at the World Bank.
“It has increasingly structured the city’s competitiveness and growth around sustainable development with the aim of using Singapore as a test bed for future urban solutions,†she added. “It’s addressing areas of challenge that Singapore itself faces, and at the same time facilitating the export of knowledge and best practices among developing-country cities globally, thus creating jobs for its businesses and population.â€
Four years ago, the government set up a one-stop shop, the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, to respond to foreign requests to tap its governmental experience, including urban planning and training in fighting corruption. Two years ago, Mr. Wong’s department, the Urban Redevelopment Authority International, was established to specifically deal with overseas enquiries on urban planning issues.
Each month, the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, which has a full-time staff of 20, receives about 10 foreign delegations seeking expertise in areas like infrastructure development, master planning and water treatment. The agency organizes visits to relevant ministries and departments and puts on 5- to 10-day training programs.
So far, the enterprise has worked on more than 100 projects, including advising on master planning for the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, advising Oman on the strategic development of its capital markets and training officials from Dubai’s Department of Finance. The government estimates that the enterprise funneled $40 million into Singapore’s economy in its first two years; more recent data are not available.