PETALING JAYA (Aug 29): The 14th International Conference on World Class Sustainable Cities 2023 (WCSC 2023), which will be held on Sept 26 at M Resort & Hotel Kuala Lumpur, will centre around the government’s Madani vision by exploring strategies to attain resilient, sustainable and liveable cities.

Themed “Resilient Urbanisation: Planning Towards Malaysia Madani”, the one-day conference will explore strategies for cities to attain resilience, sustainability and livability. It will also discuss measures on how cities should have the ability to better handle, adapt, absorb, recover and prepare for future challenges pertaining to the economy, environment, governance and society.

WCSC 2022 organising chairman Chan Jin-Wy said at a press conference on Tuesday that this year’s theme is apt, given the fact that the country’s urban areas had been hit with flash floods in the past couple of years.

“To complement our theme for this year’s conference as well as the government’s aspiration for a resilient city, speakers of the conference will delve into four sub-themes, namely promoting open green spaces in the city, resilient public transportation and integrating them into first- and last-mile connectivity, building sustainable homes and urban flood mitigation efforts,” he said. 

Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) president Noraida Saludin said topics that will be covered in this year’s conference are case studies and real examples from experts in the industry. She also hopes the past and upcoming WCSC conferences would encourage stakeholders to make cities more seamless, convenient and safe.

Speakers at the conference include Republic of Indonesia Nusantara Capital City Authority chairman Bambang Susantono, Urbis Pty Ltd managing partner James Tuma, City of Hobart (Tasmania) principal adviser of urban design Jaime Parsons, Morrow Intelligence Pte Ltd co-founder and managing director Saravanan Sugumaran, Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect studio director Chatchanin Sung, Prasarana Malaysia Bhd president and group chief executive officer Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah, Urbanice Malaysia CEO Norliza Hashim, and Xiamen University Malaysia PhD Programme of New Energy Science and Engineering & Principal Investigator head Vincent Wook Kok Sin.

Representing the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (Rehda WPKL), its chairperson Ra Adriana Muztaza said, “A world-class sustainable city is not built by one party, but by everyone in the city. One of the factors that is very important for urban resilience is to understand what’s the plan for the city, so we are very much looking forward to the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040 that will be gazetted by the end of the year. Hopefully, later on, the Kuala Lumpur local plan can then be gazetted, which would help us understand where the pockets of developments are within the city.”

The one-day conference will also feature a photography competition for young talents, centred around five themes, namely urban green oasis, green roofs and vertical gardens, riverbank restoration, community involvement and urban wetlands.

This year, Chan said the WCSC 2023 is expecting more than 600 participants consisting of representatives from government agencies, officers from municipalities, industry professionals, researchers, students and other stakeholders.

The WCSC 2023 is jointly organised by Rehda WPKL, the MIP, and the Malaysian Institute of Architects. The conference is also endorsed and supported by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.