G100 – Turkey Meetings, Istanbul, 2-4 November 2022

In Turkey, on the 100th anniversary of the Republic, we were deeply inspired by the excellence of everything. The meetings were organised by the G100 wing of Smart & Sustainable Cities during IMSAD Sustainable Future Summit with additional elements as well. 

We learned so much especially about new strategies that are integrative and interdisciplinary and built on the cornerstone of partnerships. It was enlightening to learn that most challenges can be solved at the scale of cities with sustainable action plans and leveraging complementary advantage of cities – an example being the Bintan project, with a unique development approach in the context of Singapore-Johor-Riau Islands region, a collaboration in complementarity and sustainability by both Indonesia and Singapore. 

As identified, the problem of congested cities is not urbanisation as such, but rather the lack of planning, cooperation and collaboration in an interdisciplinary and integrative context. While the city and citizens have challenges, industry has solutions, and governments the reach and regulatory authority for laws and incentives. A gender and inclusion vanguard must also be consulted as safety of cities and inequitable access of public spaces remains a concern.