From left: PLANMalaysia director general TPr Hjh Rokibah Bt Abdul Latif, Urbanice Malaysia chief executive Norliza Hashim, UN-Habitat executive director Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government deputy secretary general (Policy and Development) Mary Wong Lai Lin, Think City Sdn Bhd managing director Hamdan Abdul Majeed, Think City Sdn Bhd programme director, southern region Dr Neil Khor, and Nextdor Property Communications Sdn Bhd executive director Imran Clyde at the press conference of the Malaysian 100YC programme launch.
PETALING JAYA: Twenty-three local universities have participated in the Malaysia 100YC programme designed to invite public participation in reimagining the future of cities in Malaysia.
“The programme, where we invite participation from the local as well as international universities, aims to come up with the best solution on how to implement the New Urban Agenda (Nua) and Sustainable Development Goals (SGD), " said Urbanice Malaysia chief executive Norliza Hashim at the recent launch of Malaysia 100YC programme.
She added that it is a design-based research program where the participants can reimagine the future Malaysian cities and work to realise the 17 SGD.
Inspired and adapted from the Malaysia Biennial 100YC program, the event would run until February 2019 with workshops and special studio sessions taking place before the final exhibition.
“At the moment, we have 23 local universities that are joining in. We hope to have more participation from the private universities,” added Norliza.
The event was organised by Urbanice Malaysia, Think City and the Nexdor Property Communications Sdn Bhd.
In 2017, The World Bank recorded the percentage of world urban population at 54.73%.
By 2050, the United Nations (UN) noted that the urban population is expected to increase to 66%.
Urbanisation has been recognised as one of the crises that the world is currently trying to solve, with the organisation such as the United Nation (UN) organising the World Urban Forum (WUF) to examine the issue of the rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities.
UN-Habitat executive director Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif who officiated the launch said that urbanisation has always been perceived as a negative and worrisome issue, and the question is how could one turn the conversation into an opportunity in solving the urban crisis.
Stressing out the importance of working together with the community, Maimunah shared the approach that she used for Seberang Perai back when she was the Seberang Perai Municipal Council president.
“We practise the ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ approach on community engagement, as well as convergence awareness in making a decision,” she said.
An Urban Cafe session entitled ‘Urbanization and Community Development’ was also held during the launch. Eight panellists were invited including Think City Sdn Bhd Southern Region programme director Dr Neil Khor.
The forum was moderated by Norliza.
