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An Interview with 2020 Technical Committee Chair Ms. Sylvia Croese

2021-02-26 11:51:10

Ms. Sylvia Croese, Senior Researcher, South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand; Chair, Technical Committee, 2020 Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation.




On February 3rd, 2021, the 5th Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (hereinafter referred to as "Guangzhou Award") Shortlist Release was successfully held in Guangzhou. The 15 shortlisted cities of the 5th Guangzhou Award are as follows: City of Unley, Australia; Wien, Austria; São José dos Pinhais, Brazil; Chongqing Municipality, China; Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark; Quito, Ecuador; All 114 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Odisha, India; Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC), India; Bandung City Government, Indonesia; Union of Municipalities, Lebanon; Municipality Of Antananarivo (Commune Urbaine d'Antananarivo, Madagascar; Breda, Netherlands; Departmental Council of Saint Louis, Senegal; City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and Los Angeles, USA.

The Technical Committee met online in December 2020 to select deserving and shortlisted initiatives with a view to enhancing the implementation of sustainable urban development through inspiration and knowledge sharing. Its members came from different geographical regions and represented different areas of expertise. The Committee met to recognize innovations in improving the social, economic, and environmental sustainability in cities and local governments worldwide and select outstanding and referential initiatives in urban development. After the Shortlist Release, Sylvia Croese, Chair of the Technical Committee, received an interview from the Guangzhou Awards Secretariat and shared her views on the initiatives of the 5th Guangzhou Award, the trend of urban innovation, and urban governance under the epidemic.





1. This is your first time to serve as a member of the technical committee of the Guangzhou award. What is your impression? 

Yes, it's the first time for me to be a member and it's really been a pleasure to be part of this process. It's been really interesting to learn from other members, some of whom have had more experience in this process. And to learn from their experience and their insights. It's been a privilege to get like a first view into all the submissions and no more about all of these initiatives and what cities have been doing across the world. 

2. In this cycle of the Guangzhou award, which initiatives that impress you the most and why?

There were a lot of initiatives and all of them were were worthy and valuable in their own ways. What I really enjoy learning about were initiatives that somehow combined a focus on the environment and on climate change together with a participatory approach. 

So there was a case of the Brazilian municipality different sense that use mobile type of technology where people themselves would track, for instance, the presence of sick or dead animals. And in that way, they were able to reduce the spread of diseases. Of course in the context of the pandemic and covid that seems like an initiative that's very relevant. And that we can learn from and that we could potentially also replicate another parts of the world. 

There was also case in Senegal that looked at biodiversity and the preservation of man growth. And there're also people work together with the municipality in doing that also by spreading awareness. So this mix up having on the one hand that focus on the environment, on climate and biodiversity, and working together with people on that, that's what really impressed me. 

3. With so many contexts and different countries, how to decide whether an initiative submitted is innovative or not?

That's really difficult. That was one of the things that I really found a challenge coming from the African context where a lot of African cities do not have the same levels of power or resources or capacity compared to places around the world. This has to do with different levels of decentralization. So what may be very new and innovative in this context may be established practice is somewhere or elsewhere. But I think what was innovative for me was the way in which some cities were able to address multiple issues at the same time. So what I just mentioned this issue of, the environment, the social, the economic, and mixing that all up or looking at something existing, but addressing it in a different way. So for me, the innovation came from that. 

4. According to the initiatives of the 5th Guangzhou Award that you have seen, what new trends of urban governance do you think there will be in the future?

I think again, we've been doing this work in the context of the pandemic. And I think what was important for me, was to see how cities were able to adapt to moments of crisis, including covid, but also other moments of of crisis. And it really shows the importance of the ability of cities to adapt, to be resilient in the face of unexpected events. And I think the cities that were able to do so successfully really shows how important that is going forward, and that there's a need for cities to really think about how they can respond, how they can prepare for disasters, how they can translate that into widespread integrated planning, approaches and initiative. 

5. The unexpected epidemic can also be seen as a test for the effectiveness of the urban governance. So what are the weakness of the modern cities exposed by covid-19? And also have there been any innovative approaches to tackling this epidemic? 

I think one of the major weaknesses we've seen this across the world, i mean, both in the global north and south, is really the inequality of of cities that when it comes to social and economic inequality. And this was really exposed in the crisis, the extent to which people have insecure employment, access to basic health care and services. And I think cities that were able to respond to that situation in a very quick way. I remember, for instance, the case of Odisha, India, that actually used existing resources and programs to make sure that people were secured of their employment. So they were able to mitigate what elsewhere has been a big problem, and with which has been addressed by, for instance, social system programs. They were able to make sure that people still had a job and a source of income through that project. And I think that was really something important. There was another example, I think I remember Lebanon that also address the crisis at a very local level, the level at the neighborhood level. And very importantly, the engage the youth there. And I think also the youth plays a very important role in that regard. 

6. What do you believe are some key components or elements of urban innovation? 

Urban innovation, I think it's something that requires courage, because you want to do something different. You want to change the existing system. So it requires courage, it requires vision, it requires leadership. But I think what makes an initiative truly innovative is the extent to which governments or our political leadership are able to bring people on board and to make sure that these kind of initiatives are inclusive that people have a role to play. That it's not just a top-down initiative, but really something that brings the bottom-up as well. 

7. What do you think a future ideal city will be like? 

I was thinking about when we look at the urban SDGs, which looks at making cities more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and safe. I think for me, those are really the elements of the ideal city. All of those elements are extremely important. But I think we also need to take into account that what that looks like and how that is done may differ across the world. So I think there's one ideal city but in different versions across the world, incorporating those elements. 
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