At the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2018, Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull announced the $30 million ASEAN-Australia Smart Cities initiative to strengthen partnership between ASEAN and Australia on smart and feasible city framework and further enhance regional economic integration and prosperity. The initiative will also move towards the establishment of a knowledge bank of continuous urban planning ideas to be shared between both parties.
Cities in ASEAN are expanding exponentially with more than 90 million individuals being expected to shift to urban areas across the region by 2030. Therefore, to bring to existence productive and sustainable future cities that can help advance productivity and economic growth, there is a critical need for smart planning, good governance and sustainable practices.
Contemporary metropolises administer various advanced technologies suitable for their countries and Mr Turnbull considers Singapore as an exemplary example of urban planning.
Over the next five years, under the Smart Cities initiative, Australia will play its part by providing education, training, technical assistance and support for innovation to ASEAN; and enable the Study in Advance Sustainable Urbanisation in ASEAN – a regional urbanisation forum in 2018 which include capacity building and training, scholarships and competitive grant funding.
This initiative takes from Australia’s outstanding flair in green infrastructure, water governance, renewable energy, innovative technologies, data analytics and transportation.
Source: Australian Government / Straits Times
Participate in the upcoming QS in conversation – “University-Public Sector Partnerships: Smart Cities” which will be held from 3-5 October 2018 in Singapore.