Selangor Journal

MALAYSIA’s 100 YC PROGRAMME FOR UNIVERSITIES

Kuala Lumpur, July 3 2018 – Urbanice Malaysia, a Centre of Excellence under the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government (KPKT), launched the inaugural Malaysia 100YC (Year Cities) programme today.

Officiated by UN Habitat Executive Director, Her Excellency Dato’ Maimunah Mohd Sharif and witnessed by Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government (KPKT) Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Mary Wong Lai Lin, the programme encourages local universities to reimagine what Malaysian future cities will look like and share their ideas, solutions and concepts to address the challenges of future urban living. This includes attracting ideas, best practices and case studies from professional bodies and industry leaders in the areas of technology, architecture and town planning.

The Malaysia 100YC programme, inspired and adapted from the Malaysian Biennial 100YC programme, is a collaborative between Urbanice Malaysia, Think City and the Nextdor Property Communications Sdn Bhd.

Six topics have been identified under the Malaysian 100YC programme as key focus areas covering innovative technologies, green open spaces, urban mobility, affordable living, community governance and smart infrastructure.

“The Malaysia 100YC programme is in line with Malaysia’s aspiration to advocate, promote and implement projects in support of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),” said Norliza Hashim, Chief Executive of Urbanice Malaysia at the launch today.

“We are also keen to increase the momentum generate amongst Malaysians from our successful hosting of the World Urban Forum 9 earlier this year.”

The Malaysian 100YC programme will run till February 2019 with workshops and special studio sessions taking place throughout before culminating in an exhibition.

Hamdan Abdul Majeed, Managing Director of Think City also added that technology is moving at a frantic pace, changing the way people interact with each other and the spaces around them.

“One of our main aims from this collaborative programme is to guide our city planners and managers to better meet the current and future demands of our cities and its citizens,” he explained.

City councils were also urged to participate in the Malaysia 100YC programme and share their own challenges and aspirations so that participants will be able to provide greater local context to their solutions and ideas.

 

“Crowdsourcing ideas and solutions for future cities is an innovative way to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration. By visualising ideal future cities, we are also able to create a foundation towards realising those futures and this can be done by creating or promoting the right incentives or policies,” says Imran Clyde, founder of the Malaysian Biennial 100YC programme.

The event also hosted an Urban Cafe Session entitled ‘Urbanisation and Community Development’ which saw local experts deliberate on how rising urbanisation is placing a strain on city and environmental resources as well as what urban communities can do to address these scenarios.

The NUA is a framework that guides efforts around the urbanisation and development such as local fiscal systems, urban planning and basic services and infrastructure to ensure sustainable development. The SDG’s focus is on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

“UN projections indicate that Malaysia will have an urbanisation rate of 85% by 2040, by which time Malaysia’s population is expected to hit 41.5 million people. We must be prepared and start planning now,” concludes Norliza.

 

 

Top Picks

DOSM opens 300 extra counters as Padu registration deadline approaches

New tax incentive for Malaysian digital status companies — MDEC

Two foreigners arrested, suspected foreign workers’ syndicate masterminds