2017 Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) and Mayors’ Forum — Recap
Cities are the driving force behind technology, economies, creativity and sustainability
This September in Daejeon (Republic of Korea), I participated in my second APCS as a young professional, having previously attended the 2015APCS in Brisbane while I was living in Beijing. This time around, I was part of the 120 plus strong Brisbane Lord Mayoral Business Mission delegation, representing the company I work for, Urban Circus. This provided a valuable platform to engage with fellow delegates from Brisbane and internationally in order to share how Urban Circus can facilitate, visualise and model transformative city projects meanwhile learning from those with expertise outside of my own.
The APCS is a city conference that has been building considerable momentum since its inception in 1996; this years iteration attracted approximately 1500 delegates from 130 countries, including mayors from across the Asia Pacific, Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Its strength as a cities summit is due to the fact it puts aside federal political issues such as foreign affairs and defense to focus in things that affect cities, including improving city governance, technology, civic planning and promote investment opportunities. Cities can transcend borders, race and religion and continue to be the most powerful driver of economic growth. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani once said “cities make countries, countries don’t make cities.”
While the rest of the world is screaming about North Korea and Trump, the APCS has demonstrated that is above such geo-politcal drama by staging the conference in the Republic of Korea, sending a clear message that it is important to get on with the business of building great cities. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is to be congratulated for taking the APCS to another level during his tenure and positioning Brisbane as a key player within the Asia Pacific Region.
In this article, I will provide a short summary from a few areas of interests explored throughout the Summit.
SOME NOTES ON KOREA
Trade and Investment Queensland provided an In Summit Briefing upon arrival in Daejeon. The Republic of Korea (ROK) has a track record of overcoming political and economic adversity, including Japanese occupation, the Korean War, presidential corruption and the ongoing standoff with North Korea. Therefore, the Australia-Korea trade relationship has a degree of intimacy due to Australia’s involvement in the Korean War and other matters threatening democracy, which is different to the buy and sell relationship we have with China.
There are over 30,000 people either born in Korea or with Korean ancestry that live in Queensland and Korea has helped build the economic capacity of Queensland through evolving opportunities like infrastructure, food and agriculture, education, mining, bio-health and the service sector.
Korea has rebuilt itself literally from the rumble of the Korean War during the early 1950's, and has seen rapid growth over the past 50 years. Essential to its success is its decision to build its future upon technology, education and infrastructure. The benefits of this is evident throughout the whole country.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS — CHERIE BLAIR, JARED COHEN, THOMAS FREY
I’ve condensed my key takeaways from the keynote speakers below. If you would like to find out more about them, I suggest you do your own research.
Cherie Blair (Foundation for Women):
- Women are a potential resource yet to be full unlocked, which is a huge economic issue at a global level.
- If we achieve a 50:50 ratio between men and women in the workplace, an extra 28 Trillion would be added to the world economy.
- In turn, women are also more likely to reinvest in community and family.
Jared Cohen (Jigsaw):
- We are in the midst of an access revolution, where technology use is changing around the world and used differently from city to city.
- Innovation is best played as a long game and is driven by necessity; to be a civic leader, you have to take risk to see innovation.
- Cities are not realising their demographic majority. We have have multiple versions of ourselves online (personal, work, social); a city of 2 million might look like 10–15 million people online.
Thomas Frey (The Da Vinci Institute):
- If we change peoples vision of the future, we change the way they make decision today
- Driverless and drone technologies will transform how the built environment is structured and designed. With the loss of carparking, cities will have to rethink their income streams and street access.
- The future is already here, it is just not evenly distributed.
- When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
SEQ MAYORS
Each city has a slightly different strategy that is formed by demographics, geographic location and industry. This is true for South East Queensland (SEQ). At the SEQ Mayors Panel, there was a consensus that it is important as a region to try not to be all things to all people; we need to find our points of competitive advantage. People don’t think of local government boundaries, but rather geographic boundaries.
The SEQ Mayors recently attended the World City Summit in Singapore and were clearly inspired by the innovation and foresight evident in the city-state.. My reading of this is that the SEQ Mayors want to embrace smart city initiatives. Singapore has multiple metro areas with shared digital platforms and have learnt how to integrate and coordinate as a urban region. The SEQ Mayors aims to emulate Singapore’s success is evident through the formation of the Council of Mayors, which has already helped improve federal funding. Power in numbers matters. Furthermore, an infrastructure first approach is a key element in supporting sustainable development growth in the region; the key projects for the whole region revolve around fast transport connectivity (e.g. M1 and Bruce Highway upgrades; rail etc.).
Here are some other bite size visionary statements mentioned by each Mayor regarding their respective region:
BRISBANE: Brisbane is gaining attention on the global stage and is diversifying its product. The economic investment opportunities that the Queens Wharf Development creates is unprecedented and is supplemneted by an emphasis on transport projects like Brisbane Metro and Cross River Rail. Growth is tall and inner city, not short and sprawled.
LOGAN: Expects 30% growth over the next 20–30 years, focusing on key infrastructure across Logan and a logistic industry. Logan City is comprised of 6 key business districts rather than central CBD and residents tend to live where they work.
MORETON BAY REGIONAL COUNCIL: People are choosing to live in the Moreton Bay region for lifestyle reasons. Leads on technology (Singapore influence) and a new university campus will help emerge from the shadow of Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
REDLANDS: Seen as an island water playground and tourism opportunity — Toondah Harbour. Having the fastest aging community in the state supports this notion.
SCENIC RIM: Foundation of its future is looking after the environment (4000km² area) rather than pursing rapid urban expansion; the Scenic Rim wants to contain urban expansion. The Bromelton logicstic hub. (15,000Ha) will support an economic development zone and inter-modal freight facility.
SUNSHINE COAST: An existing population of 300,000 is set to grow to 500,000 over 20 years, and therefore has a need to improve the regions economic position. First the Sunshine Coast must worry about what goes underground first before building itself as a new smart city.
TOOWOOMBA: Is abundant in cultural festivals, urban renewal and a stable economy. Immense self belief in the region has been cultivated by the “Golden Trifecta”, which includes a new airport, range crossing highway upgrade and inland rail. Toowoomba is the gateway to outback tourism.
In summary, regional diversity is the strength of the South East corner — each region has unique opportunities and provides different life choices. A Brisbane centric mentality is not a winning combination; better connectivity between these distinct areas will improve comparative advantage and enhance strengths, while mitigate weaknesses and short comings.
4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The 4th Industrial Revolution (4ID) is a term that was mentioned over and over again throughout the Summit. Think 3D printing, VR, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things and AI. I believe that we are already on the 4ID journey, however, it will continue to accelerate at an unprecedented rate, heralding a very transformative era for our cities. Thus, I can see a need to build capital in this area, investing in virtual city models and accessible platforms for skill development.
IMPLEMENTING CITY MASTERPLANS
Throughout the concurrent and plenary session, there were some key problems and questions identified regarding the implementation of city masterplans, including:
- What life are you envisioning for the people?
- Does your masterplan have a future oriented perspective — if not, is it flexible to adapt to the future?
- How do people who have relocated to your city fit in to your vision?
Masterplans can often be too prescriptive, based on a series of assumptions and decisions enacted by government or developers with other agendas (e.g. winning elections, attracting investment). Furthermore, governments and developers failure to communicate urban change can cause friction within communities and delay progress. Citizens need to participate in the masterplan process and given ownership to shape how they live, work and play. There is no need to achieve perfection from the beginning — masterplans are an on going process.
I have seen first hand when residents impacted by development and masterplanning are bundled together and described in lowest common denominator form. It does not equate to great urban outcomes. Additionally, it is not enough to listen to the opinion of urban designers, planners and architects, who can sometimes be idealistic in their approach and lack input from a full spectrum of stakeholders and available data.
CULTURE
Globalisation is meaningless if there are no unique cultures left in cities to globalise; if this becomes the case, there is no reason to visit places or trade with one another. On this note, one of the highlights of the Summit were the evening activities, which included a variety of Korea cultural entertainment, from traditional drumming, to dancing, art and musical performances. On the final evening, I was lucky to experience the international phenomenon that is K-Pop. The city of Daejeon put on a huge city concert open to the public to celebrate its hosting of the 2017APCS, with performances from some famous artists.
I hope to see you at the next APCS in Brisbane 2019!
