Planners don't know it all and need inputs from the people: City leaders

But there are challenges in engaging and hearing from all parties, they acknowledge

- Ng Keng Gene

Urban planners do not have a monopoly on ideas, and require quality inputs from citizens and the private sector, said city leaders at the World Cities Summit on June 4.

Speaking at a panel on partnerships between governments, businesses and people, Ms Edith Hsu-Chen, executive director of the New York City Department of City Planning, said: “We shouldn’t have the hubris to think that we know how to do it all, we know always what to do.”

She added that while urban planners are “great generalists” who can understand and process a lot of information, it is critical that they also listen to the societies they serve.

Citizens can help, she said, by offering meaningful inputs on plans.

“The last thing we want is a straight no. And maybe the second last thing we want is a straight yes,” she said at the closing plenary of the three-day summit, held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“We actually would like to have suggestions because those suggestions, we can work with them, we can incorporate them. It will really improve our plans and our laws.”

Mr Cheng Hsing Yao, group chief executive of real estate developer GuocoLand, said that governments should be consistent and transparent in the implementation of policies, adding that policymakers do not work in a vacuum, and need to take in feedback from the private sector.