Youths Gain Insights from CHALLENGE on Singapore's Urban Development

Jun 04, 2014 18:00 JST

Source: World Cities Summit

SINGAPORE, Jun 04, 2014 - (ACN Newswire) - Three teams were awarded top honours today for the inaugural Singapore Youth Challenge on Urban Governance: "Heroes" held by the Centre of Liveable Cities (CLC) in August 2013. The teams comprising youths aged 17-21 years old were awarded for their compelling works that narrate Singapore's journey in urban development.

In organising the Youth Challenge, the CLC had hoped to engage youth in Singapore's urban development experience. Through the students' choice of a "Hero" - which could range from an "urban pioneer" to a "man on the street" as an anchor character, participating teams were to narrate Singapore's urban development experience via a multimedia narrative. All in, 16 teams from Singapore's tertiary institutions participated in the challenge.

A four-member judging panel who made the decision on the winning entries comprised Mr Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities; Professor Lily Kong, Vice Provost, Academic Personnel of the National University of Singapore; Mr Haresh Sharma, a local playwright and; Mr Josef Tan, a Curriculum Planning and Development Officer at the Ministry of Education.

Professor Kong said: "It was heart-warming and encouraging to see young people learning about contributors to Singapore's urban development, and identifying those whom they think have made significant contributions to making Singapore a liveable and sustainable city-state. They clearly demonstrated a curiosity about the past, a healthy respect for our urban pioneers, and an appreciation of the challenges that went into the making of Singapore's cityscape. Not least, several teams also demonstrated their creativity in presenting their research. All teams deserve praise for their very noteworthy efforts."

Champion team "The Urbanites" had this to share about the competition: "Exploring the unconventional, building lasting friendships, appreciating and feeling grateful for the works of our forefathers. We have to continually improve our urban landscape to prepare us for the future, as we become an increasingly globalised and metropolitan city."

The three winning teams will receive prize money (top prize being $2,000) and be offered internship opportunities with the Ministry of National Development (MND). Their winning entries are also exhibited at the World Cities Summit 2014 that is held at Marina Bay Sands from 1 - 4 June 2014.

More information on the winning teams and their works are provided at http://bit.ly/1hyrNDT.

About the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC)

The Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) was set up in 2008 by the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, based on a strategic blueprint developed by Singapore's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development. The Centre's mission is to distil, create and share knowledge on liveable and sustainable cities. CLC distils key learning points from Singapore's experiences over the last half-century, while creating knowledge to address emerging challenges. It also shares knowledge with, and learns from, other cities and experts. The Centre is guided by the CLC Framework for Liveable and Sustainable Cities, and works across three main areas - Research, Training, and Promotion. More information can be found here: http://www.clc.gov.sg.

For further queries, please contact:

Ministry of National Development
Ms Tricia Chiu
Assistant Director, Corporate Communications Department
Phone: 6908 7128/ 8183 5710
E-mail: tricia_chiu@mnd.gov.sg

Ms Yvonne Cheong
Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communications Department
Phone: 6908 7198/ 9048 6311
E-mail: yvonne_cheong@mnd.gov.sg

Source: World Cities Summit
Sectors: Environment, ESG