The NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) and the EHESP French National School of Public Health jointly organised the Urban Planning for a Healthy Smart Nation on 11 April 2016, a workshop designed to integrate the two national programmes of “Healthy Living Master Plan” and the “Smart Nation Initiative”. The workshop drew over 100 participants, bringing together international, multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary people, including policy makers looking at the three sectors of health, transport and urban planning, public health practitioners, and academics.
A/Prof Teo Yik Ying, co-organiser from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, highlighted the importance of urban planning from a health promoting and technology-savvy angle and further added that urban planning and city development, with health in mind, can present a valuable opportunity for promoting health and active mobility to the population on a daily basis.
The workshop was officiated by the Guest of Honour, Mr Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director, Centre for Liveable Cities, Ministry of National Development Singapore. In his opening remarks, Mr Khoo discussed how Singapore’s urban transformation in the last 50 years changed this island nation into one of the most liveable and healthy cities in the world – a feat made possible through the various government initiatives as well as the Centre’s contributions in distilling, creating and sharing knowledge on liveable and sustainable cities.
The workshop also saw speeches and panel discussion from distinguished speakers such as Dr Charlotte Marchandise-Franquet, the Deputy Mayor in charge of Health at the City of Rennes, France as well as the Political Chair for the World Health Organisation French Healthy Cities Network. Dr Marchandise shared her office’s experiences on creating healthy cities by placing health high on the social, economic and political agenda of the city government.