Reader Response on "Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities" Draft 2

In the article “Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities”, Cho (2014) mentions that enhanced infrastructural development is vital in considering the economic, social and environmental issues in urban cities. She further asserts that the key factor of a nation’s competitiveness to unite and incorporate cities to greater serves the resident is by having sustainable and competent infrastructure. The writer explains about the Envision Rating System which is a tool to evaluate the performance of an infrastructure. Cho mentions about her involvement in the Impact King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) that would bring positive impact on the community in the future. The writer believes that infrastructure must improve the aspect of life of the society while preserving energy resources as well as considering the natural environment and climate change. While I agree with Cho that both government and the private sector need to agree on sustainability, she lacks in explaining why it is essential to have good governance and firm decision from the government for sustainable development.

At the start, sustainable development can be hard to implement. There might be many obstacles to go through to achieve sustainability especially in developed countries due to the rapid urban growth. In order to prevent sustainable ideas not to be short-lived, a firm decision made by the government is vital. As stated in the article “Sustainable Development” from Legrand website, the author affirms that governance is needed in decision making process. The author also claims that all members of the society including the private and public sector companies, associations, unions and citizens need to come to an agreement for sustainable development. This is also true to what Cho had mentioned in her article that government and private sector have to work hand in hand towards sustainable development.

In addition to support that good governance plays an important role towards sustainable development, Clark (2012) reports that “effective governance is a prerequisite for putting in place the integrated policymaking capacity which is needed to drive sustainable development.” Clark further states that the government of Singapore set up a plan called “sustainable development blueprint” which brought all relevant ministries to analyze urban challenges and ways to tackle the problem. Personally, I feel that The Sustainable Singapore Blueprint project signifies great effort by the Singapore government to further instill a positive mindset of the public and private sectors towards sustainable development.

For example, Singapore was awarded the intelligent city award for its smart transport system and achieves to be one of the least congested major cities in the world.  The success was led by the Singapore government, who understood the importance of efficiency and affordable transportation system. (Reyes, 2013) Reyes remarks that Singapore Land Transport System Authority will further invest in transport infrastructure. In my opinion, Singapore’s Ministry of Transport made the right decision to invest on the transport infrastructure so as to achieve “car-lite”. This way, the public would not have to rely on cars as they can take the public transport to get from one place to another conveniently. Moreover, there would be lesser emission of carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases to the Earth’s atmosphere.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the government plays an important role by setting the first step in sustainable development. The government should be transparent, open to sustainable ideas and responsible. Not only infrastructure engineers need to think about improved approach for infrastructure, they need to communicate to the society about the significance and worthiness a sustainable development can bring to a society. Therefore, I feel that the government can help to convey and convince the public for a good change. The government have the power to make law and adopt policies that are more approachable to people and the environment.

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References

Cho,H. (2014). Developing sustainable infrastructure in new cities.New cities foundation. Retrieved from http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/evaluating-sustainable-infrastructure-development-new-cities/

Clark,H. (2013 March 13). Helen Clark: the importance of governance for sustainable development. United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved from

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2012/03/13/the-importance-of-governance-for-sustainable-development.html

Reyes,E. (2013 September 9). Singapore,Tokyo among top ten best cities for urban sustainability. Eco-Business. Retrieved from http://www.eco-business.com/news/singapore-tokyo-among-top-ten-best-cities-urban-sustainability/

Sustainable development. (n.d.).Legrand. Retrieved from http://www.legrand.com/EN/sustainable-development-description_12847.html

-Edited on 02/10/2015 at 1925 hours