Dr Cheong Koon Hean is the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) overseeing the development and management of some 1 million public housing flats in 26 towns/estates. She is concurrently Deputy Secretary (Special Duties) in the Ministry of National Development.
Dr Cheong was also the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority from 2004 to 2010, in charge of strategic land use planning, conservation of built heritage and the real estate market. She played a key role in the planning and development of major growth areas, such as Marina Bay as well as the Sino Singapore Tianjin Eco City. She is also a nominating committee member of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize.
Dr Cheong is on the Boards of the HDB, the National University of Singapore, the Civil Service College, as well as the International Federation for Housing and Planning. Active internationally, she served on expert panels convened by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institution and is currently on the World Economic Forum’s Real Estate and Urbanisation Global Agenda Council. She is also the Tan Swan Beng Endowed Professor in Nanyang Technological University.
Presentation Title
Smart & Sustainable Towns for Better Living
Abstract
Singapore is a land and resource constrained city state. Despite these constraints, Singapore is recognised internationally for its good living environment. Today, more than 80% of the population live in HDB estates, well served by good infrastructure and amenities. Dr Cheong will speak about how HDB embraces sustainability in our research, planning and design and development of our towns to enhance our living environment. She will also share on the development of Smart Towns in the next phase of public housing and how greater sustainability can be achieved through smart technologies, which will see the progressive transformation of the heartlands into highly liveable towns of the future.