• Login
    • Join
  • FOLLOW:
  • Subscribe Free
    • Magazine
    • eNewsletter
    Checkout
    • Magazine
    • News
    • Research
    • Markets & Technologies
    • Raw Materials
    • Top Companies
    • Directories
    • Jobs
    • Events
    • Microsites
    • More
  • Magazine
  • News
  • Research
  • Markets & Technologies
  • Raw Materials
  • Top Companies
  • Directories
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Microsites
  • Current / Back Issues
    Features
    Business Corner
    Editorial
    Digital Edition
    eNewsletter Archive
    Our Team
    Editorial Guidelines
    Subscribe Now
    Advertise Now
    World Reports
    eBook
    Top Features
    Coatings World Company Profile: Siltech Corp.

    Coatings World Interviews Axalta CEO Robert Bryant

    Resins Update

    Building a Sustainable Future

    Paint for Commercial Vehicles Goes Greener
    Breaking News
    Online Exclusives
    Distributor News
    Financial News
    Paint & Coatings Manufacturer News
    People In the News
    Price Increases
    Product News
    Video Bites
    Raw Materials & Equipment
    Suppliers News
    Live From Shows
    Top News
    Sika Expands Production Capacity in Qatar

    Asahi Kasei Europe R&D Center Relocated

    BCF's Tom Bowtell Voted VP of World Coatings Council

    Eckart Launches STAPA HCP 4000 Range of Silver-metallic Pigment Pastes

    Chromaflo Technologies to Sponsor, Exhibit at North American Pultrusion Conference 2021
    Top Companies report
    Market Research
    White Papers / Tech Papers
    Technical Papers
    Product Spec Sheets
    World Reports
    Adhesives and Sealants
    Aerospace Coatings
    Architectural Coatings
    Automotive Coatings
    Automotive Refinish
    Business Operation
    Color Trends & Forecast
    Construction Chemicals
    Corrosion Control
    Industrial Coatings
    Laboratory Equipment
    Marine Coatings
    Market Trends & Forecast
    Powder Coatings
    Production Equipment
    Radcure Coatings
    Special Purpose Coatings
    Wood Coatings
    "Green" Coatings

    PPG Adds SEM Products to PPG ADJUSTRITE Commercial Estimating System

    HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams Launches Ovation Plus

    Nippon Paint Marine’s New Self-polishing Antifouling Paint Applied to 5 Bulk Carriers

    PPG Honors Ideal Distributors with Automotive Refinish Platinum Distributor of the Year Award

    Dunn-Edwards Launches DECOPRIME
    Additives
    Binders
    Pigments
    Solvents

    Sika Expands Production Capacity in Qatar

    Asahi Kasei Europe R&D Center Relocated

    Eckart Launches STAPA HCP 4000 Range of Silver-metallic Pigment Pastes

    EU Innovation Fund Evaluating Perstorp-created Project AIR

    Shepherd Color Company Opens Sales Office in China
    Buyers Guide
    Company Capabilities
    Distributor Guide
    Add New Company
    International Buyers Guide Companies
    Active Minerals

    Keim Additec Surface USA LLC

    Eagle Specialty Products

    Clariant Additives

    Pilot Chemical Company
    Industry Events
    Webinars
    Live From Show Event
    Top Events
    Cleveland Coatings Society Zoom Meeting

    PCI Powder Coating Week

    Southern Society for Coatings Technology Annual Meeting and Technical Conference

    11th Asia Pacific Floor Fair and Guangzhou Paint & Coatings Fair

    Coatings for Africa
    Companies
    White Papers/Tech Papers
    Product Spec Sheets
    Equipment
    Literature/Brochures
    Videos
    International Buyers Guide Companies
    Siltech Corporation

    Eagle Specialty Products

    Keim Additec Surface USA LLC

    Pilot Chemical Company

    Shepherd Color Company, The
    • Magazine
      • Current / Back Issues
      • Features
      • Editorial
      • Business Corner
      • Digital Edition
      • eNewsletter Archive
      • Editorial Guidelines
      • Subscribe Now
      • Advertise Now
    • Breaking News
    • Directories
      • Buyers Guide
      • Distributor Guide
      • Corporate Capabilities
      • Trade Associations
      • Add Your Company
    • Markets & Technologies
      • Adhesives and Sealants
      • Aerospace Coatings
      • Architectural Coatings
      • Automotive Coatings
      • Automotive Refinish
      • Business Operation
      • Color Trends & Forecast
      • Construction Chemicals
      • Corrosion Control
      • Industrial Coatings
      • Laboratory Equipment
      • Marine Coatings
      • Market Trends & Forecast
      • Powder Coatings
      • Production Equipment
      • Radcure Coatings
      • Special Purpose Coatings
      • Wood Coatings
      • "Green" Coatings
    • Raw Materials
      • Additives
      • Binders
      • Pigments
      • Solvents
    • World Reports
      • Africa Report
      • China Report
      • India/Asia Pacific Report
      • Europe Report
      • Latin America Report
      • Market Research
      • Russian Report
    • Top Companies
    • Online Exclusives
    • Slideshows
    • Experts Opinions
    • Blog
    • eBook
    • Infographics
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Whitepapers
    • Jobs
    • Microsites
      • Companies
      • White Papers/Tech Papers
      • Product Spec Sheets
      • Equipment
      • Literature/Brochures
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Industry Events
      • Live From Show Event
      • Webinars
    • About Us
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of Use
    Expert's Opinion

    Technology Will Make Our Cities Smarter, But Without the Human Touch We Won’t Want to Live in Them

    Today’s cities will need to accommodate spiralling numbers of people, servicing their needs and stimulating trade and investment to create jobs, all within the constraints imposed by mega-challenges, such as climate change.

    Johan Widheden, Senior Sustainability Expert, AkzoNobel04.14.15
    The passing of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew recently triggered a nationwide outpouring of grief and tributes from leaders from across the world. As the country’s founding father and first Prime Minister, Lee is widely seen as the architect of Singapore’s transformation since the 1950s – from a small, poor trading port with limited natural resources, to a modern metropolis with one of the world’s highest per capita GDPs. In those early years, two thirds of the population lived in inner city slums, with streets strewn with litter and the stink of rotting garbage unavoidable.

    Lee, described by U.S. President Barack Obama as a “true giant of history”, helped lift the country out of squalor thanks, in no small part, to his range of housing, healthcare and education policies that put his people first.

    Almost four billion people currently live in the world’s cities. That number is expected to jump by 2.5 billion by 2050, with 90 percent of the growth occurring in Asia and Africa. The UN-Habitat says that cities in the developing world, many of which are doubling in size every 15 to 20 years, currently lack the resources to adapt to the forces of urbanization.

    Today’s cities will need to accommodate spiralling numbers of people, servicing their needs and stimulating trade and investment to create jobs, all within the constraints imposed by mega-challenges, such as climate change.

    Investment, development and technology will be crucially important. The likes of Philadelphia and Singapore are already investing heavily in green stormwater infrastructure to reduce the risk of coastal flooding, for example. New York and Washington D.C. are creating their own mandates to drive out energy waste from buildings. Others are looking at how to use data analytics to develop more sophisticated energy infrastructure.

    But the use of smarter technologies and ICT is only part of the solution. Factoring a range of human dimensions into a city’s future vision is going to be crucial too.

    We have already witnessed, in places like Masdar (billed as a blueprint for future sustainable cities), what happens when development races ahead of the needs of people. Yes, the global financial crisis of 2008 has inhibited Masdar’s ambitions. But it is the lack of affordable housing that is forcing many of the city’s workers to commute by car to a city aiming to be carbon neutral. Despite projections of some 40,000 people calling it home by 2015, only several hundred students have so far moved in.

    Similarly, in the north Thailand city of Chiang Mai, its rapid transformation as a commercial center is altering the socio-economic fabric of the city. Once-dominant small-scale agricultural land is being absorbed by urban sprawl, with small markets replaced by shopping malls. Daily Buddhist rituals are being eroded by the pressure of commuting and a faster pace of life.

    Of course, change is at the heart of metropolitan life. But, as English Heritage chief executive Simon Thurley says, maintaining that link with the past creates a feeling of belonging among residents. “Buildings erected 100 years ago are integral to the look, feel and character of a place. Take them away and a city loses part of its identity,” he says. He wants cities to embrace the challenges of reusing defunct infrastructure in the same way New York’s Meatpacking District’s old industrial buildings are now home to high-end boutiques, bars and restaurants.

    What about the design and layout of a city? For Jeff Risom, the U.S. managing director at Gehl Studio, “our streets could be doing more than just allowing people and objects to move from A to B.” Melbourne and Copenhagen, placed first and second respectively in the latest Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking, both spend time assessing the vitality of public life based on people-centered metrics such as pedestrian flow and time spent lingering in an area. The Danish capital has promised to increase pedestrian traffic and the time spent in public spaces by 20 percent compared with 2010 figures by the end of the year – and to raise the share of citizens satisfied with the city’s public spaces to 80 percent.

    There are a myriad of examples where people are at the heart of city policy-making and progress is being made by city managers and mayors. Today, cities and companies are more agile and progressive than countries. As a result, cities are the frontrunners of fostering sustainable solutions in their effort to become more liveable, sociable and long-term beneficial to their inhabitants. And making our cities optimal for tomorrow’s citizens is at the heart of AkzoNobel’s Human Cities initiative, designed to help find ways of making our urban environments more inspiring, energizing and vibrant.

    We want city leaders to focus on issues such as heritage, color, transport, education and sport to create places that serve people better. From the creation of age-friendly cities, like Madrid (which has developed city-planning strategies to ensure design works for people of all ages and levels of ability), to a focus on green space provision as a tool for improving the lives of poor families (as is the case in cities across Chile where evidence suggests that parks not only benefit the environment and cut crime rate, but also give citizens a sense of pride and belonging), these case studies offer inspiration and hope that cities of the future will be places in which we will want to live and play, rather than just exist.

    We just might need a few more Lee Kuan Yews to make it happen.

    Many of the issues raised here are explored in more details in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s report, ‘Tomorrow’s Cities’ which you can find here.
    Related Searches
    • Architectural Coatings
    • washington
    • Green Coatings
    • akzonobel
    Related Knowledge Center
    • Architectural Coatings
    • Market Trends & Forecast
    • Green Coatings

    Related Expert's Opinion

    • Business Operation | Market Trends & Forecast
      Analyst Finds Silver Lining After PPG Industries (PPG) 2Q17 Results

      Analyst Finds Silver Lining After PPG Industries (PPG) 2Q17 Results

      ...
      Kevin McCarthy, Chemicals Analyst, Vertical Research Partners 09.13.17

    • Business Operation | Market Trends & Forecast
      Analyst Provides Key Takeaways After Mixed Results from PPG Industries

      Analyst Provides Key Takeaways After Mixed Results from PPG Industries

      Financial Strength vs. Lackluster Operations
      Kevin McCarthy, Chemicals Analyst, Vertical Research Partners 09.06.17

    • Business Operation | Market Trends & Forecast
      Analyst Insight on Hurricane Harvey Impact on Chemical Stocks

      Analyst Insight on Hurricane Harvey Impact on Chemical Stocks

      Hurricane Harvey's potential impact on commodity chemicals
      08.25.17


    • Business Operation | Market Trends & Forecast
      Analyst Looks at Soft 2Q17 Results from Sherwin-Williams Company

      Analyst Looks at Soft 2Q17 Results from Sherwin-Williams Company

      Analyst offers insight into a soft 2Q17 results from Sherwin-Williams Company
      Kevin McCarthy, Chemical Analyst, Vertical Research Partners 08.23.17

    • Market Trends & Forecast
      IHS Markit Research Update—Chemical Company Analysis:  Dow and DuPont Merger

      IHS Markit Research Update—Chemical Company Analysis: Dow and DuPont Merger

      As Dow & DuPont continue merger integration, activist investors drive company to seek outside counsel on proposed spin-offs.
      Dave Witte, Senior Vice President, Oil Markets, Midstream and Downstream and Rob Westervelt, Director, IHS Markit 08.10.17

    • Green Coatings
      Flexibility to Manage a Mix of Energy Sources is the Key

      Flexibility to Manage a Mix of Energy Sources is the Key

      The flexibility to manage a mix of energy sources is the key to navigating these exciting clean-energy times.
      Anders u00d6sterlund, director of energy, AkzoNobel 05.07.15


    • Architectural Coatings | Color Trends & Forecast

      Making Our Cities More Liveable

      ...
      Per Nimer, Design Manager, AkzoNobel 04.09.15

    • Market Trends & Forecast

      Understanding the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals

      ...
      Nikki Burgess, DGSA, CDGP, Staff Regulatory Specialist, Labelmaster 04.06.15

    • Market Trends & Forecast
      Oil Price Hits Electric Vehicle Sales?

      Oil Price Hits Electric Vehicle Sales?

      ...
      Dr. Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx 01.26.15


    • Additives | Architectural Coatings | Binders | Pigments | Solvents | Wood Coatings

      Experts Weigh in on Additives Market and Water-Based Coatings

      ...
      Bridget Klebaur, Associate Editor 01.15.14

    • Market Trends & Forecast | Special Purpose Coatings

      New Functional Coatings Provide Under-Appreciated Business Opportunities

      Hydrophobic, self-healing and air-cleaning coatings will have a big impact, according to new report
      08.28.13

    • Marine Coatings | Market Trends & Forecast
      Frost & Sullivan Analyst Offers Insight on the Marine Coatings Market

      Frost & Sullivan Analyst Offers Insight on the Marine Coatings Market

      ...
      08.05.13


    • Business Operation | Market Trends & Forecast

      The Hellenic Chemical Industry will deliver despite the economic turmoil

      ...
      Panos Scarlatos, Director General, Helenic Association of Chemical Industries (HACI) 02.28.12

    • Market Trends & Forecast | Price Increases

      Fluoropolymer Pricing Trends – An Unprecedented Situation

      ...
      Mike Haley, Whitford Corporation 09.13.11

    • Architectural Coatings | Business Operation | Market Trends & Forecast
      Talking Resins Trends with Celanese Emulsion Polymers

      Talking Resins Trends with Celanese Emulsion Polymers

      Phil McDivitt, general manager, Celanese Emulsion Polymers, talks about the resins market and Celanese’s role in it.
      07.26.11

    Trending
    • Raw Material Availability, Prices Hikes May Be 2021’s Biggest Issue For Coatings, Ink Sectors
    • Sika Expands Production Capacity In Qatar
    • Raw Material Price Increases Pile Pressure On Paint Manufacturers
    • EU Innovation Fund Evaluating Perstorp-created Project AIR
    • A Brief Introduction To Importance Of Automotive Paint Additives
    Breaking News
    • Sika Expands Production Capacity in Qatar
    • Sto Corp. ISO Certifications Extended
    • Asahi Kasei Europe R&D Center Relocated
    • BCF's Tom Bowtell Voted VP of World Coatings Council
    • Eckart Launches STAPA HCP 4000 Range of Silver-metallic Pigment Pastes
    View Breaking News >
    CURRENT ISSUE

    April 2021

    • Coatings World Company Profile: Siltech Corp.
    • UV-Curable Coatings
    • Coatings World Interviews Axalta CEO Robert Bryant
    • Resins Update
    • Building a Sustainable Future
    • Paint for Commercial Vehicles Goes Greener
    • View More >

    Cookies help us to provide you with an excellent service. By using our website, you declare yourself in agreement with our use of cookies.
    You can obtain detailed information about the use of cookies on our website by clicking on "More information”.

    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms And Conditions
    • Contact Us

    follow us

    Subscribe
    Nutraceuticals World

    Latest Breaking News From Nutraceuticals World

    4-week Fish Oil Regimen Showed Significant Muscular Damage Protection in Recent Study
    Review Covers Role of Vitamin K2 in the ‘Calcium Paradox’
    KD Pharma Acquires Rohner AG Manufacturing Assets
    Coatings World

    Latest Breaking News From Coatings World

    Jebsen & Jessen, Innospec Sign Distribution Agreement
    Sika Expands Production Capacity in Qatar
    Sto Corp. ISO Certifications Extended
    Medical Product Outsourcing

    Latest Breaking News From Medical Product Outsourcing

    MICRO Expands with New Facility in Costa Rica
    DiaSorin to Buy Luminex for $1.8B
    Endologix Acquires PQ Bypass
    Contract Pharma

    Latest Breaking News From Contract Pharma

    Catalent Biologics Completes Madison Expansion
    Lonza Expands PyroTec PRO for Endotoxin Testing
    FDA Accepts Airway Therapeutics’ IND for COVID Treatment
    Beauty Packaging

    Latest Breaking News From Beauty Packaging

    Revieve Launches Skin Coach
    Carlyle Group Acquires Majority Stake in Beautycounter
    The Honest Co. Files for an Initial Public Offering
    Happi

    Latest Breaking News From Happi

    Babor Professional Skin Care Names McCaffrey as Vice President of Sales
    Diamond Chemical Appoints Technical Service Representative
    Carlyle To Acquire Majority Stake in Beautycounter
    Ink World

    Latest Breaking News From Ink World

    Kumon North America Adds Speedmaster XL 106 from Heidelberg
    SE-DA Invests in Kornit Presto S
    Iron Oxide Pigments Market to Register 4.7% CAGR from 2021 to 2028: GVR
    Label & Narrow Web

    Latest Breaking News From Label & Narrow Web

    Enprom helps converter respond to flexible packaging needs
    anytron assists medical device company with labeling
    Dantex debuts new capabilities with white ink opacity
    Nonwovens Industry

    Latest Breaking News From Nonwovens Industry

    Aries Face Masks Meet ASTM Standards
    Tufropes Launches Inherently Antibacterial and Antimicrobial Spunbond
    NXTNano Adding Three Lines
    Orthopedic Design & Technology

    Latest Breaking News From Orthopedic Design & Technology

    GreenBone Ortho Closes 10 Million Euros Series B Funding Round
    SynerFuse, Cirtec Medical Partner to Develop Back Pain Management Device
    New Biosealant Could Stabilize Cartilage, Boost Healing After Injury
    Printed Electronics Now

    Latest Breaking News From Printed Electronics Now

    Virtual ASMC 2021 Spotlights Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Excellence
    First Solar Series 6 CuRe has Industry’s Lowest Warranted Degradation Rate
    SEMI: 2020 Global Semiconductor Equipment Sales Surge 19% to Industry Record $71.2 Billion

    Copyright © 2021 Rodman Media. All rights reserved. Use of this constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Rodman Media.

    AD BLOCKER DETECTED

    Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
    Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.


    FREE SUBSCRIPTION Already a subscriber? Login