Cleanliness, discipline and stability were key factors cited for the respondents’ choice, while employment and housing named as priority areas for improvement to make Singapore a more livable city for all
SINGAPORE, 11 July 2016 – At the Microsoft CityNext Asian Mayors’ dialogue session held at World Cities Summit 2016, Microsoft revealed findings from a study titled Microsoft CityNext Asia Pacific Survey: Your City, Your Future, which showed that one in four residents in the Asia Pacific region named Singapore as their preferred city to live in, outside of their home country. Key reasons for this preference include: the city’s cleanliness (44 percent), discipline (22 percent), safety (18 percent), as well as Singapore being a modern and exciting city (13 percent).
The table below shows the list of most admired cities, as voted by the 2,000 survey respondents from 13 cities in the region:
| Most Admired Cities in Asia Pacific | ||
| 1. Singapore
2. Tokyo 3. Sydney 4. Melbourne 5. Osaka 6. Hong Kong |
7. Seoul
8. Taipei 9. Bangkok 10. Kuala Lumpur 11. Shanghai 12. Ho Chi Minh City |
13. Beijing
14. Jakarta 15. Manila 16. Mumbai 17. Delhi 18. Others |
However, despite Singapore coming up tops as the respondents’ favourite city in Asia Pacific, the majority of Singapore’s residents are not very optimistic about seeing further improvements to their quality of life over the next decade. 43.5 percent of the Singapore residents polled expect a decline in the quality of life, contrasting against the views of a smaller group of residents – 31 percent – who expect improvements in the quality of life in the next decade. In addition, 25.5 percent of Singapore’s residents expect the city to maintain its status quo over the next decade. The residents polled also cited employment opportunities (73 percent), housing (71 percent) and transportation (70 percent) as the top three areas most in need of improvement in Singapore.
In view of the areas outlined for improvement, a large number of Singapore residents agree that technology can play a crucial role in improving living conditions in Singapore. According to the survey, 85 percent of Singapore residents view technology’s most important role as creating better connectivity, while 79 percent of residents see technology as a means to generating greater economic opportunities such as creating employment or starting a technology startup. Other key roles for technology cited include improving information dissemination to residents about government services (78 percent), improving citizen engagement through better communication with government (76 percent), and Big Data analytics (65 percent) which can facilitate city development and planning.
Jessica Tan, Managing Director of Microsoft Singapore said: “As Singapore accelerates towards realising its Smart Nation vision, technology will play an even more important role in cementing Singapore’s position as the most admired nation in Asia Pacific. Building a Smart Nation is not just the responsibility of the government alone, our ability to harness the power of technology to co-create innovative urban solutions that can improve the residents’ quality of living will also be key in ensuring the continued success of the nation. The future of Singapore is a “future of us”, one that the government, businesses and residents have a stake in to collectively achieve inclusive growth. By taking a people-first approach to help the local ecosystem harness the power of technology and innovation, Microsoft can play a key role in helping to build a better, smarter and more inclusive Singapore Next.”
The Microsoft CityNext Asia Pacific Survey: Your City, Your Future was conducted with over 2,000 residents across 13 cities in Asia Pacific including Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, Manila, Mumbai, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei and Tokyo and Osaka.