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| Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, fourth from left in front row, poses with the mayors of other cities from across the world in a group photo during the World Cities Summit at Marina Bay Sands Convention Center in Singapore, Aug. 1. Courtesy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government |
Mayor Oh Se-hoon shares policies, inks bid to host the event in 2023
By Ko Dong-hwan
In the latest annual summit for the leaders of 90 cities from across the world, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attended sessions and meetings to introduce some of the city's policies, which he says have improved the quality of Seoulites' lives.
In Singapore from Sunday to Monday for the World Cities Summit (WCS) and World Cities Summit Mayors Forum, Oh shared with the other mayors his policies to make Seoul a more sustainable and livable place.
His official schedule kicked off on Sunday when he delivered an opening speech for the forum, which is part of the summit's programs, in the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center. In the forum, which focuses on typical urban problems and attempts to form international solidarity in solving them, Oh introduced the city's policies related to digital transformation and carbon neutrality ― two of the suggested topics for this year's WCS.
Oh delivered the eight-minute speech in English in front of Desmond Lee, Singapore's minister for National Development, Ahmed Aboutaleb, the Dutch mayor of Rotterdam, LaToya Cantrell, the American mayor of New Orleans, Sally Capp, the Australian mayor of Melbourne and other political and industrial dignitaries as well as those from international organizations.
Traditional urban living formulas are no longer effective, said Oh, in the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, climate crisis, global pandemics and wars. The mayor said that today cities need a group of policies for the digital transformation that provide internet-based administrative services whenever and wherever users need them, such as a project called Metaverse Seoul, a system to control city traffic based on AI and big data and to provide educational opportunities for all ― like Seoul Learn, a city-run online educational platform ― despite socioeconomic inequality.
Oh also urged the other leaders to join the global carbon neutrality movement amid the climate crisis. Oh said Seoul is reshuffling itself to reduce the current amount of greenhouse gas emissions it generates by 30 percent by 2026. "Eighty-eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions (in Seoul) come from buildings and traffic," said Oh in the forum, which was held in person for the first time in three years. "So we are remodeling aged buildings into buildings with low carbon emissions and erecting all new buildings as zero-energy structures. To make 10 percent of all the vehicles registered under Seoul electric, we are now expanding charging stations across the city to make them reachable within five minutes from anywhere in the city."
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| Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation CEO Kim Heon-dong, from left, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, and Lee Kwan-ok, an associate professor of urban planning at the Business School of the National University of Singapore check out the green spaces inside mixed-use development project Marina One in Marina Bay, Singapore, July 30. Courtesy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government |
The same day, Oh signed an agreement with Hugh Lim, the executive director of the Center for Liveable Cities (CLC) in Singapore, the organizer of the forum, to host next year's forum in Seoul. A short video clip was played during the forum to promote Seoul with its cultural heritage sites such as Gyeongbok Palace and Gwanghwamun Square, as well as redeveloped areas like Dongdaemun Design Plaza and SomeSevit, three manmade islands in the Han River near Banpo Bridge, known as a popular night spot.
Oh's city-promoting bid continued until late that day, when he separately met Michael Ludwig, the mayor of Vienna, Austria, and Mikhail Kolvart, the mayor of Tallinn, Estonia, to discuss public housing and smart city policies.
The morning of the following Monday, Oh met with representatives of the past winning cities of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, a biennial award to honor livable, vibrant and sustainable urban communities around the world, to share urban planning and development ideas with them. With Seoul having won it in 2018, other winners include Bilbao in Spain (2010), New York City (2012), Suzhou in China (2014), Medellin in Columbia (2016) and Vienna (2020). Indranee Rajah, the second minister for National Development in Singapore, hosted the session.
At the opening ceremony for WCS later on Monday, Oh once again walked up to the podium to invite guests to Seoul for the next WCS. His proposal was accompanied by the introduction of Seoul's latest policy of financial subsidies to offset financial inequalities worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I will make Seoul a global leading city where anyone regardless of their nationality wants to live, work and invest," said Oh in his speech. "Let us continue our discussion about enriching people's lives in Seoul next year."
Established by the CLC and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, a sub-governmental agency under Singapore's Ministry of National Development, in 2008, WCS was first held biennially until 2010, when it became an annual event.
