2019 Mercer Global Quality of Living Survey

Mercer had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Khoo Teng Chye, the Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC). Mr. Khoo Teng Chye was more than happy to discuss his vision on the quality of living within his city, as well as the various challenges, opportunities, and successes he’s experienced throughout the past 20 years.

The below chart depicts the correlation between a highly dense city and a high living standard (using Mercer Quality of Living data).

There are 3 main components which can be perceived as the biggest barriers that the city of Singapore has to face.

First, by and large, Singapore is an island where resources are scarce. Hence, the city needs to continuously seek innovative solutions in order to overcome these challenges, and at the same time, strive to pursue the best living standards for inhabitants. The lack of land, potable water resources, land for agriculture enabling self-sufficiency, and availability of energy, are all constraints that Singapore needs to overcome and keep in mind for the future development of the city.

Second, economic issues also impose constraints on Singapore. The Singapore market is relatively small in comparison to neighboring countries, so the city is often questioning: “To whom can we sell our products? What type of products do we need to sell? What type of internal and foreign market penetration can we have in Singapore?”

Third, Singapore is ethnically and culturally diverse. It’s a cultural melting-pot and constant effort is necessary to ensure social integration The main portion of Singapore inhabitants and citizens are of Chinese origin, followed by Malay and Indian origins. Furthermore, expatriates and tourists bring a great many foreigners to the city.

First, structured housing policy, making sure that everyone has an adequate home in Singapore.

Second, to have a clean city with adequate sewage and waste removal infrastructure. 

Third, to thrive in building a Green Singapore. A clean and green city has often been used by Singapore authorities to promote and define the city as one of their highest achievement.

While infrastructure, safety, and provision of goods and services are all considered as basic needs for Singapore, they are not the core elements that form the backbone of Singapore’s success.

Talent and business attractiveness are indeed correlated to high living standards of a city. Singapore has pushed to attract businesses and talent through various strategies, of which four main ones are:  

1. Making sure the Singapore economy has its competitive advantage by providing opportunities and ease in setting up businesses, and having competitive taxation.
2. Making it easier for companies to set up their regional and worldwide headquarters, such as IT companies from around the world, including more recently, China and South East Asian nations, and financial companies, hence attracting talent from all over the world.
3. Providing adequate infrastructure with regards to the international connectivity from, and into, Singapore and leveraging Singapore’s favorable geographic location.
4. Emphasizing and developing the logistics of the Singapore port, hence enabling the transfer and transit of goods through it. Several e-commerce companies are envisioning using the Port of Singapore as their logistics headquarters.

Singapore’s main issues will remain the same over the coming decades – Singapore is an island; therefore, resources have been and will continue to be one of the main challenging drivers. Should Singapore want to remain competitive, it will need to grow both its economy and its population. There is a need to find more innovative ways to increase our liveability, even though our population will continue increasing in an already highly-dense city.

We are conducting several research initiatives and launching innovations to make sure the city can continue to foster a high living standard for its residents. A key objective of Singapore is to become a city that is nature friendly through various initiatives such as clean transportation and clean energy. Singapore aims to be aligned with nature and as well as to be sustainable in the long term.

Through the sharing of information and forums, we have been able to learn from other cities around the world about various best practices. At the same time, we’ve provided guidance based on our experiences, challenges and successes that Singapore went through and may continue to face in the future.

Awarded biennially at the World Cities Summit (WCS), an exclusive platform for government leaders and industry experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges, share integrated urban solutions, and forge new partnerships, the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize honors outstanding achievements and contributions to the creation of liveable, vibrant, and sustainable urban communities around the world.

The Prize is awarded to cities and recognizes their key leaders and organizations for displaying foresight, good governance and innovation in tackling the many urban challenges faced, to bring about social, economic and environmental benefits in a holistic way to their communities.

• Bilbao, Spain, the inaugural winner in 2010, was acknowledged for transforming the city from an obsolete and dilapidated industrial city into a knowledge-based economy through an integrated and holistic approach. One key example is the transformation of its river, from a physical and social barrier, into a hub for social and cultural integration and a centre for innovation and creativity through a successful balance of the twin aims of infrastructure investment and social integration.
• New York, United States of America, was given the prize in 2012 in recognition of the city’s ability to transform itself by adopting key strategic urban planning initiatives post 9/11, enhancing New York City’s stature and demonstrating its resilience.  
• Suzhou, China, was given the top recognition in 2014. Known as the “Venice of the East”, the city was awarded for efforts to transform itself rapidly in the last two decades from an agricultural, export-oriented economy into an innovative, high-value, service-oriented city through proper planning and investment in key physical infrastructure. It is also known for its efforts to preserve and maintain the historical and cultural heritage.
• Medellin, Colombia, the prize recipient in 2016, was recognized for its transformative efforts. Within two decades, a city plagued by violence and inequality has turned into one that seeks to empower every member of society, putting the needs of the people at the forefront of planning and policies. For example, the Unidades de Vida Articulada (UVA – Life Articulated Units) program invites citizens to be actively involved in the building of sports, recreational and cultural venues on previously inaccessible plots of land set aside for various utilities.

Singapore sought to create a garden city as it started developing in the 1960s. Since then, as Singapore’s density continues to rise, the city strives to keep up with high living standards for its inhabitants. Singapore has intensified efforts to embrace nature in order to achieve its vision of becoming a City in a Garden. In the future, the Centre for Liveable Cities envisions that Singapore would work towards being a city that is fully integrated with nature.

Chart courtesy of the Centre for Liveable Cities

2019 CITY RANKING

This ranking indicates differences in quality of living factors affecting expatriates in popular assignment destinations and should not be used as the basis for determining hardship premiums, as many complex and dynamic factors must be taken into account. Please contact us about developing your international assignment program.