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ASLI Greater KL & Smart City Summit 2016
Themed “Transforming Cities of Tomorrow, Today”, the day-long summit noted that by 2050,
6.0 billion or 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities.
VARYING FROM COUNTRY to country, on factors such as available
infrastructure and resources, culture, mind-set of residents and
what-have-you, a ‘smart city’ is many things to many people. What’s
apparent is no universal blueprint will fit all; perhaps the Caragliu
and Nijkamp 2009 definition would suffice, i.e., that a city is smart
‘when investments in human and social capital and traditional
(transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel
sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with
a wise management of natural resources, through participatory
action.’ That, in essence, was the premise for the day-long Greater
KL and Smart City Summit 2016 convened by the Asian Strategy
and Leadership Institute (ASLI) themed “Transforming Cities of
Tomorrow Today.”
Feature presentations by local and international speakers highlighted
topics such as:
• Sustainability consideration for smart cities, the importance of
public/private collaboration in transforming from traditional
city management towards smart city concept insofar as urban
efficiency (utilities, health and education facilities), good
governance, equitable growth, infrastructure, efficient mobility
and IT connectivity.
• Smart connectivity for smart city, challenges of traffic and
transportation of an urban environment, need for efficient
linkages between inner and outer city areas, focus on better access
to information and services and involvement in technology in
daily lives.
FROM LEFT: Dr Thomas Tang, MD of Kuala Lumpur Centre for
Sustainable Innovation (KLCSI); (Moderator) Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff
Sulaiman, President/CEO, Malaysian Industry-Government Group
for High Technology (MIGHT); YB Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan,
Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing & Local Government Malaysia;
and Mr Fermin Fautsch, Vice President, Global Enterprise, Telekom
Malaysia Group/Chairman and Board Director, EU-Malaysia Chamber of
Commerce and Industry.
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Barcelona.
26 Building & Investment | www.b-i.biz
Realising the vision of Greater Kuala Lumpur, in its transformation
to world-class city status, leveraging on KL’s liveability ranking
(by Economic Intelligence Unit) of 70 out of 140 cities and being
placed 7th among the cities of Asia. The River of Life Project,
to revitalise Klang and Gombak Rivers into a Heritage and
Commercial Centre, and planting of 100,000 large-coverage tress
for greening the city are samples of works in progress by City Hall.
Case studies, to kick-start the needed changes towards smart city.
In the final reckoning, the take from the Summit is that
integration of (a) the above-mentioned core elements and (b) the
aspirations of the citizenry are keys to determining and planning
current and future needs. To