Singapore, the Island Nation: An Overview
Speaker: Dr. Chan Soon Keng
1. Brief Introduction: history and geography
2. The Peoples of Singapore
3. Culture and Subcultures
4. Educational System
5. Housing
6. Transportation
7. Economy
8. Summary
Climate Change and its impact on Sustainability
Speaker: Dr
Adam D.
Switzer
This session will discuss natural hazards and their impact on
sustainability and development of the coasts in Asia, and will
answer the question “Why is Asia particularly vulnerable to
climate change?”
Sustainable
Urban Planning and Management
Speaker: Dr Robert Tiong
Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with a long-term vision and
mission in its Concept and Master Plans for its land-use
developments. Its urban development and town planning as well as
public housing systems have proven its success in this
land-scarce island.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority has won numerous awards for
its successes in transforming Singapore into a modern metropolis
hub for international businesses, an attractive urban
environment for residential dwelling in the city, as well as an
enviable tourist destination. Planned, developed and managed by
the Housing Development Board (HDB), a statutory board under the
Ministry of National Development, its public housing has
accommodated more than 80% of the country’s population with a
95% ownership of what commonly known as HDB Flats in each of HDB
towns. This successful urban development and town planning
programs and the public housing system have not only catered for
the living need but also catered the social, racial, economical
and national development need for the whole nation. Singapore
has also achieved much in building up eco-friendly, sustainable
and energy-efficient practices and standards in its urban
development and town planning programs.
This session would provide a platform for participants to gain a
comprehensive understanding on the Singapore urban development
and town planning, as well as the principles of land use
planning, public housing management systems and the mechanisms
on how to successfully develop comprehensive programs.
The aim will include learning of successful experiences of
Singapore urban development and town planning as well as the
public housing system and the supporting private residential and
commercial sectors. Participants will study and discuss the
government function, land strategy, town planning, financing,
integration of commercial development, public transport and
housing, sustainability of public housing and project
management.
Can we achieve sustainable development? : An
Economic Perspective
Speaker: Dr Youngho CHANG
Sustainable development (SD) is a
path that ensures the well-being of inter-generation as well as
intra-generation. There are two different concepts of SD,
namely, ecological and economic. This seminar presents the
economic perspective of SD and contrasts it with the ecological
perspective by different theoretical models and the assumptions
that they entail.
The so-called SD indicators such as
Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) and Genuine Savings
(GS) show how different approaches will lead to very stark
results in SD. It also questions how SD is relevant to Singapore
– a small island who seems to have inconsequential ecological
impacts. Some relevant examples might answer this question.
Countries or regions like Nauru, Easter Island and Aral Sea
constitute the negative examples of SD, while a city like Dubai
could present the positive example of SD.
Lastly, it offers a new form of SD
indicator to reconcile the different approaches in SD. This new
indicator contains elements from both economics and ecology. It
is expected that the new indicator provides a greater
understanding on various disciplines to achieve SD.
Sustainability
Leadership
Speaker:
Ms Quek, Eliza
This session will explore the rationale,
need, values and competencies needed for leaders to demonstrate
sustainability.
At the end of the session, participants will
be able to :
·
Define
Sustainable Leadership, differentiate it from other Leadership
models
·
Map the
values, competencies, need and rationale for Sustainable
Leadership
·
Be
inspired through reviewing examples of current issues and
challenges facing the world population to demonstrate
Sustainable Leadership mind-set
·
Develop
strategies to advocate and role model Sustainable Leadership
Economic Sustainability
Speaker: Dr Sng Hui Ying
The five basic needs of all citizens are:
employment (E), housing (H), healthcare (H), education for their
children (E) and adequate retirement financing (R). However, the
provision of these five basic needs (EHHER) by governments has
led to persistent budget deficits, mounting public debts and
worsening international competitiveness in many developed and
developing countries. Greece is one such example. This is
clearly economically unsustainable.
In the case of Singapore, our unique
institutional arrangements and constitutional fiscal handcuffs
has help to ensure that the five basic needs can be met without
government running a budget deficit. The purpose of this session
is thus to explore and understand the Singapore’s brand of
fiscal sustainability.
Creativity and Innovation
Speaker: Associate Professor Stephen Lee
In today’s fast-paced, constantly evolving world,
the three Rs of education – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic –
are inadequate to prepare youngsters for the future. They need
to be educated in cReativity as well.
This short session introduces participants to the
notion of creativity and its characteristics, what fosters and
what hinders creativity, the difference between, “invention and
“innovation; examples of innovators and innovations that have
changed the lives of many.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation:
When East meets West
Speaker: Mr Francis Tay
Entrepreneurship and innovation goes hand in hand
like a horse and carriage. However, the road to being an
entrepreneur is not an easy one. Besides having the right
characteristics, the necessary environment must also be there to
encourage individuals to become entrepreneurs. Innovation, just
like entrepreneurship, is not something that can be simply
turned on when called upon. Innovation begins with a process
that calls for individuals to be creative. Creativity however,
is not necessarily something innate in all individuals. Research
in the area of entrepreneurship indicates that entrepreneurs are
not
born and can be made. Entrepreneurs essentially
start businesses to take advantage of opportunities and innovate
in order to continue being successful. Thus, the potential for
anyone to be an entrepreneur is there, however, only a few will
take this route as a career. Why is this so? Can we train
someone to be innovative? Can we turn the man on the street into
an entrepreneur?
This session will look at the characteristics of
an entrepreneur and the reasons why one would choose to be an
entrepreneur. This session will also look at innovation from an
“East vs West” perspective, e.g. how could would be
entrepreneurs find innovative ideas from trends observed in the
West and vice-versa in the East? For example, how can we see
opportunities from demographic, technological and economic
changes? How can a small country like Singapore potentially be
the centre for innovation?
