Synopsis for Volume One It takes a certain amount
of courage for intellectuals to think on model cities and best practices to be
found in cities, knowing that they risk criticism of putting up cardboard
cut-outs of `so-called' model cities rather than present the rather grim reality
that cities around the world are more often than not grappling to come to terms
with. The contributors to this two-volume book on model cities and urban best
practices are courageous not only about their convictions of what make cities
work for their citizenry but also in their recognition of the cities which have
done well by their citizenry and bringing cities that one step nearer towards
the realisation of city living as the utopian ideal. In this first volume of the
book, government ministers join senior bureaucrats, diplomats, planners,
architects, engineers, social scientists, scholars, experts on arts and culture,
environmentalists as well as business entrepreneurs in a comprehensive and
wide-ranging discussion of model cities and urban best practices. The papers on
the effort to define model cities and urban best practices highlight
perspectives not only from around the world but also agree that meeting basic
urban needs such as, housing, can be as vital a city effort as traffic
management or thinking on sustainable development and the partnerships among
sectors towards achieving common city-wide goals. Entrepreneurial endeavours
such as cross-border links among neighbouring cities and their regions highlight
the business focus and economic vitality that cities will have to balance with
the inclusiveness of its citizens no matter how young or old, issues of ageing,
accessibility, public spaces and environmental quality. Themes comprising this
volume of the book focus on issues familiar to many working with and on cities
and their rapid growth. The effort to define model cities and identify urban
best practices is complemented by discussions on transport and accessibility in
cities. These papers are followed by the presentation of case-studies for space
to accommodate business, information technology as well as environmental
concerns in both the planning and management of cities. The authors as well as
discussants have emphasised that their papers do not mandate models or urban
best practices but are an effort to celebrate and acknowledge the success that
has been achieved in making cities the ideal places for living that they can be,
particularly in many of the newly industrialising and developing countries.
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Ooi, Giok Ling, ed.
2000.
Model Cities: Urban Best Practices
(Volume 2).
Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority,
Singapore and The Institute of Policy Studies.
(263 pages, ISBN 981-04-2446-9)
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