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Published: Jan. 20, 2020, 12:18 a.m.

Welcome to Love Your City, where we focus on the relationship between real estate or property, depending how you refer to it, technology & people.

The 2020 series starts off with a 10-part series that will look at cities: to better understand the LIVE| WORK| PLAY model, with the continuous evolution in residential, commercial, retail and industrial real estate/ property. Especially when we look at the urbanization that will be central to cities well into the future!

When you think of a smart city, you think of a place that allows you to live, work & play in a modern scenario. This means a seamless integration, between real estate/ property (from residential to commercial), continuous  evolution in terms of the tech. applications that complement these assets, to improve the lives of the citizens (as well visitors) to these cities.

With that said, we look at Singapore to understand what sets it apart from all the other cities in the world. Its recent title as the smartest city in the world comes after a survey done by Swiss business school IMD & Singapore University of Technology & Design, in a collaboration called the IMD Smart Cities Index. The index focused on how cities are implementing digital technologies to improve the lives of those that live in it.

So what makes this city stand out?

The index measures how cities perform when it comes to green spaces & how they are maintained, how local institutions that exist are made more efficient, making employment opportunities to be digitized for ease of access as well as providing security to those that are custodians of the city - which are the citizens.

Having a government with a long-term vision, which sees the public sector being extremely efficient and having very low corruption, has gone a long way in allowing the city to rank above all others in the index.

So, I guess you want to know  the 3 areas that contributed to Singapore being the smartest city in the world.

1) Having a healthier population: initiatives such as the health city novena allows for a community-focused health plan. There are walkways for pedestrians,  underground car parks & outdoor green spaces from a property/ real estate perspective, which complements the experience for citizens & patients.

2) The housing development board of Singapore has done what a lot of governments use as part of their election manifesto: free public housing for all their citizens. Despite that its a relatively small city-state, it has created spaces that are liveable, sustainable & ready for growth. It's an impressive accomplishment when you consider that 80% of the country's population lives in these types of housing. You can imagine the great deal of financial planning & allocation of this inclusive housing that takes place. This needs to consider racial harmony that has to be implemented as well as the insurance that covers these assets.

 3) And lastly its mobility. The city has excellent infrastructure, from roads, ports to airports. Efficient transportation has played a pivotal role in the smart city model of Singapore. It allows for commuters to have a mix of walking & cycling that is complemented by mass rapid transit & buses. There are smart traffic cameras which restrict traffic depending on volume, easing the commute for thousands of passengers daily. This has allowed citizens to reduce pollution through sustainable energy use, which allows for recreational spaces that are liveable. Active lifestyles ends up being the norm, where the advanced technologies are applied for mobile communities.

So what can other cities learn from Singapore?

Clever application of technology is all well & good in terms of what a smart city is all about, but it becomes pointless when it doesn't improve the quality of life for its citizens (as well as visitors). 

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