Thai cave rescue Interview with Moon Jae-in Summit city, Singapore MCI(P) 096/08/2017 FebruaryAugust – September- MCI(P)March 096/08/2017 2018 2018 INDEPENDENT • INSIDER • INSIGHTS ON ASIA Smart Cities: Building for Tomorrow A global push to build smart cities is on with policy makers and shapers scouting for the best technology solutions to allow people to enjoy their living and working spaces. Thai cave rescue Interview with Moon Jae-in Summit city, Singapore MCI(P) 096/08/2017 FebruaryAugust – September- MCI(P)March 096/08/2017 2018 2018 INDEPENDENT • INSIDER • INSIGHTS ON ASIA Contents Smart Cities: Building for Tomorrow A global push to build smart cities is on with policy makers and shapers scouting for the best technology solutions to allow people to enjoy their living and working spaces. 2 Getting smarter for the future 5 Rise of Asian Smart Cities Asia Report August – September 2018 CHINA: Yinchuan leads the way in using tech to improve daily life JAPAN: Small but smart cities woo business and young talent Warren Fernandez Editor-in-Chief, The Straits Times & SPH’s English, Malay and 8 Smart City Mayors: Mayor, West Java governor... Indonesia’s Tamil Media (EMTM) Group president in 2024? Sumiko Tan 11 A network of smart cities Managing Editor, EMTM & Executive Editor, The Straits Times 13 Cooling Singapore project comes up with new ways Tan Ooi Boon to beat the heat Senior Vice-President (Business Development), EMTM 15 Cheers! A special beer to mark a special anniversary Paul Jacob Associate Editor, The Straits Times 16 Thailand cave rescue: Humanity at its unified best, Eugene Leow with no walls or borders Head, Digital Strategy, EMTM Irene Ngoo 20 Time for Kim to prove his sincerity & Vice-President Cash does not always need to be king (Editorial Projects Unit) EMTM Singapore can continue to help in bid Zakir Hussain 21 Foreign Editor to denuclearise Korea: Moon Shefali Rekhi Suspension of joint military exercises is to build trust and Asia News Network Editor, keep dialogue going: Moon The Straits Times & Editor, ST Asia Report 24 Bridging fortunes across the Yalu River Design 27 Asean unicorns sharpening their horns Peter Williams Singapore, summit city: Head, Visual, EMTM & 30 Art Editor, The Straits Times Your guide to everything about why the nation rocks Chng Choon Hiong Cover photo illustration Anil Kumar Graphic Artist Circulation Eric Ng Head, Circulation Marketing Tommy Ong Senior Manager (Circulation) We welcome your feedback and views Reach out to us: Letters can be sent to For advertising enquiries: [email protected] Sharon Lim Ling Senior Manager Published by (Business Development) The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) [email protected] Circulation & subscription: Printed by Times Printers Private Limited Delia Gan Executive All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or [email protected] in part without written permission from the publisher. 1 Cover story Shefali Rekhi Asia News Network Editor Getting smarter for the future An artist’s impression of the 9,450ha New Clark City being built in the Philippines. PHOTO: SURBANA JURONG Cities are tapping has tie-ups with the Japan Overseas We want the Infrastructure Investment Corporation technology to for Transport and Urban Development New Clark transform people’s (Join) and Singapore’s infrastructure City to be a consultancy Surbana Jurong for New showcase lives but have a Clark City and hopes it can attract many long way to go more investors. city. “The Philippines lagged behind its neighbours in terms of infrastructure in new, futuristic, Putra- the previous administration but now we jaya-like city is being built want to acquire the knowledge. We want Nena Radoc, in the Philippines, about to catch up,” Ms Radoc said. SVP-Chief Financial Officer, BCDA. 120km from Metro Manila Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s com- ’’ The 9,450ha New mercial capital, embarked on a three- AClark City will be the largest new, year journey to become a Smart City, allow electric cars to be charged. It is “smart, green and disaster-resilient” last year. It will invest heavily in smart expected to open in 2022. city to be built by President Rodrigo information technology to cope with Singapore’s own virtual map based Duterte’s administration. the challenge of its growing population on real-time dynamic data is expected It could eventually be bigger than of 10 million and rapid city expansion. to be ready by the end of the year and Manhattan when it is completed in three The key highlights of its plans include will enable better city planning. or four decades, contributing 1.57 tril- initiatives to build Intelligent Control These cities are part of a growing lion pesos (S$41 billion) a year to the Centres in the city and developing an global push to build smart cities that rely country’s economy. open data ecosystem for the city that heavily on information technology and Its strategic location will allow will allow city officials to govern better. data analysis for predictive solutions that businesses to access key markets easily “Ho Chi Minh faces many problems will allow for better governance, make and could possibly decongest the capital such as flooding, traffic jams, pollution,” cities more resilient and enable effective city as well. Companies located in the said Dr Duong Anh Duc, Director long-term planning. The ultimate aim is new city can also expect to be safe from General, Department of Information to build liveable and sustainable cities. typhoons, flooding and earthquakes. and Communications, Ho Chi Minh City. The need to do so has never been Driverless cars, robots and drones “We want to improve our efficiency in more urgent. will be easily found in the high-tech city governance. We want our citizens to get The United Nations has cautioned that that is preparing to be ready to host next in touch easily and we want to give more close to two thirds of the world’s popu- year’s Southeast Asian Games. information to be able to share and dis- lation could be living in urban areas by “We want this to be a showcase cuss what we can do,” he told The Straits 2050, with at least 40 mega cities having city,” said Ms Nena Radoc, SVP-Chief Times, on the sidelines of the World Cities a population of 10 million or more. Financial Officer, Bases Conversion and Summit (WCS), held in Singapore. Africa and Asia will witness the Development Authority (BCDA), which Elsewhere, Jinan in China is building fastest growth, with more and more is anchoring the project. The BCDA a solar-powered super highway that will people moving to cities. 2 Cover story Smart solutions for Smart Cities Here’s a look at 1 Green buildings 2 Building management ongoing efforts to Rooftop gardens or vegetation Automation and optimisation of build sustainable on the side of buildings to help services such as heating, energy urban landscapes: insulation, absorb CO2 and usage, lighting and ventilation produce oxygen 3 Perimeter access control Controlling access and monitoring of restricted areas with CCTV, intruder detection and alarms 4 Rooftop wind turbines Wind turbines built on top of high- rise buildings or integrated into the building design itself ST PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG Air pollution control Vertical-axis wind turbines use, including Wi-Fi on the 5 10 Controlling CO2 emissions of Helical twisted wind turbine Tube/Metro factories and monitoring car towers across the city for Smart lighting 16 pollution efficient use of space Intelligent and weather-adaptive Building-integrated Waste management streetlights 6 11 photovoltaics Monitoring rubbish levels in Disaster prevention 17 Solar panels integrated into containers to optimise refuse Monitoring soil moisture, the building fabric to replace collection routes vibrations and earth density conventional materials Smart parking 12 Fast lanes Smart Grid Monitoring availability of 18 7 Intelligent, adaptive fast and slow Energy consumption monitoring parking spaces across the city lanes for walking and cycling and management 13 Earthquake early detection Electric transport Chemical leakage 19 Monitoring specific places Electric vehicles and public 8 detection susceptible to tremors transport, with charging stations Detecting leakages and waste of Potable water monitoring across the city factories in rivers 14 Monitoring the quality of tap Fire safety Real-time updates 20 9 water across the city Fire detection and intelligent Instant traffic updates sent to Wi-Fi extinguishing tailored to each smartphones to help route 15 Citywide free Wi-Fi for public room planning and avoid congestion Source: Raconteur, Visual Capitalist Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan country with a population in excess of the cities will be facing more traffic predicts that more than half of Asia’s 1.3 billion. congestion and accidents, higher smart cities will be in China. But while urbanisation could be stress and may not be able to deliver India, which announced its smart the pathway to reducing poverty effectively, if policy makers do not resort city initiative three years ago to cover and ensuring greater prosperity, the to quick action and effective measures 100 cities, has outlined a plan to invest phenomenon also means congestion, to remedy the situation. close to US$30 billion (S$41 billion) in uncontrolled city expansion and health Juniper Research, which ranked coming years. The project could impact hazards. Singapore as the world’s smartest the lives of 125 million people, in a This implies people in many of metropolitan area last year, says in 3 Cover story Smart City Index 2017 Rank Global city Country 1 Singapore Singapore 2 London Britain 3 New York United States 4 San Francisco United States 5 Chicago United States 6 Seoul South Korea 7 Berlin Germany 8 Tokyo Japan 9 Barcelona Spain 10 Melbourne Australia NOTE: The Intel-sponsored study conducted by Juniper Research ranked the top 20 global smart cities across four key areas: mobility, A Thai Royal Navy boat is seen during a search operation for missing passengers of a capsized healthcare, public safety and productivity.