Over the next 15 years, more than 3 billion people will face similar housing and liveability challenges. Worsening the global urban slum phenomena, the persisting global pandemic has permanently redistributed the global population from dense capital cities and urbanised districts to 2nd & 3rd tier cities and the suburbs. Restricted travel, cordoned geographical areas and domestic lockdown policies across the globe have impacted labour supplies, public finances, social groups dynamics and economic recovery policy, hence the demand for urban technologies, public policies and new normal smoothening urban planning with stronger effective leadership as an integrated global health and economic policy.
Echoing the Green Economy global agenda first coined by Prof. Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum, the 6th Annual Future City Summit was planned with the theme: “Planet Renaissance: Future Lock In Not Lock Down , which was hosted in Hong Kong and Guangzhou City in the Greater Bay Area of Mainland China, on 15th – 16th December 2021. The simultaneous Future City Summit African Forum was hosted in a designated city in Africa on 15th December.The Conference was organised through formats including keynotes, panel discussions and regional forums, along with Key stakeholder roundtables, technology roadshows and city government meetings. UDA presented the Smart City Plan for Gampaha during the planning for good cities roadshow which was praised by the peers who attended the meeting.
Planning for Good Cities is an opportunity for any city to get a chance for being assisted in policymaking and enhancement of government technology. Planning for Good Cities pursues connecting the top 10 selected cities with stakeholders in different sectors such as G20 Global Smart City Alliance and IoT Urban Transformation Hub.
The Planning For Good Cities Roadshow is a virtual roadshow of selected 10 emerging cities (including city of Gampaha in Sri Lanka) in South and Southeast Asia for engaging further with the ecosystem of Future City Summit and Good City Foundation, in a goodwill for enhancing stronger understanding and capacity of city governments in technology governance, affordable and dynamic urban planning, liveability design for next generations and peer-cities collaboration. The roadshow was conducted and presented by the Mayors, Governors, Heads of Smart City Planning and Urban Development in corresponding offices including the Director General Projects of the Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka
