Cities are home to more than half the world’s population, and are important centres of social and economic activity. But they are today under siege from the twin threats of rapid urbanisation and climate change, which are already impacting the way people live, work and play in cities.
Growing populations are stressing municipal infrastructure designed for fewer people and less traffic, and temperatures in Singapore, for instance, are rising at the rate of 0.25 degrees Celsius per decade, twice as high as the global average. But the ‘air-conditioned nation’, like many other cities around the world, still relies on energy-intensive cooling systems to make their environments more comfortable.
Recent headlines have also highlighted the devastating consequences of high-pace, thoughtless consumption. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a concentration of plastic trash and debris that occupies an area bigger than Mongolia, and studies have found microfibres in drinking water.
Without a bolder approach to how cities handle their waste and keep cool, cities are unwittingly driving themselves towards disaster.
That is where The Liveability Challenge comes in. Presented by Temasek Foundation Ecosperity and organised by Eco-Business, the Challenge was launched last week as a global call for solutions to these two key issues.
Projects shortlisted to enter the final round of the Challenge could win up to S$1 million in funding.
Find out more about The Liveability Challenge in the video above.
