Letter of Transmittal
25 October 2015
Madame Alice Goh
Senior Manager on Research Group
Building and Construction Authority
200 Braddell Road ZEB Level 3
Singapore 579700
Dear Madam Alice Goh,
RE: Reducing heat gain on east and west facade walls of HDB flats
We are pleased to present our proposal on reducing heat gain on the east and west facade walls in HDB flats which will ultimately reduce indoor temperature for greater energy efficiency and sustainability.
The content of this proposal consists of the current solutions, the advantages and disadvantages of the current solutions, the group's proposed solution and benefits.
Current solutions such as reflective paint, windows and green wall are able to reduce the indoor temperature and the amount of sunlight penetrating to a small extent in a HDB household unit in compromising the high initial cost, subsequent maintenance and lack of ventilation.
The group’s proposed solution is to implement water-cooled facade wall. It uses harvested rainwater to reduce indoor temperature of a HDB household unit. The advantages are it reduces the amount heat trapped indoors, decreases the amount energy consumption and minimises the damage to the ozone layer by reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases.
Your time spent on our proposal is greatly appreciated. We hope you will consider our proposed solutions to allow us to take a step closer towards responding to the HDB dweller needs, by providing them a conducive environment of living in Singapore.
Yours Sincerely,
Joey Neo
on behalf on ‘Js
Thursday, 3 December 2015
Js: Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Singapore is located at the north of the equator and with high
precipitation rate throughout the year makes Singapore a hot and humid country.
Singapore could experience higher temperature in the future.
Many Singaporeans who are living in HDB flat now are feeling
uncomfortably hot as the indoor temperature increases due to the heat being trapped
particularly on the east and west façade walls. As a result, HDB dwellers tends
to switch on the air conditioner and fan causing an increase of energy
consumption.
Water-Cooled façade wall is a method that utilizes harvested
rainwater to run through PVC pipes which are embedded inside the walls using
gravity feeds. Water-Cooled façade wall is able to reduce heat gain on the east
and west façade walls which will ultimately reduce indoor temperature for
greater energy efficiency and sustainability.
Water-Cooled façade wall is a solution that can reduces the
amount of thermal heat trapped indoors, decreases the amount of energy
consumption and minimizes the damage to the ozone layer by reducing the
emission of harmful greenhouse gases.
The benefits of Water-Cooled façade wall are reduction in
thermal heat trapped indoors, reduction in the amount of energy consumption,
and reduction in the damage to the ozone layer.
Water-Cooled façade wall is a beneficial, simple and
innovative method that reduces heat gain on east and west façade wall. It will
contribute towards the conservation and improvement of our environment for a
sustainable development.
Js: Personal statement
As an engineering student studying Sustainable
Infrastructure Engineering (Land) at Singpore Institute of technology, I always
feel that engineers are improving things that others think is perfect. I feel
that it is good to do something for the society that we live in. Global warming
is a world issue that everyone needs to play a part to combat this problem.
With our proposed solution to the problem of heat gain in HDB flat, we can
definitely protect the environment with the reduction of the harmful carbon emission
from the use of the air conditioners or fans for cooling down the room
temperature.
The role of peer and tutor feedback
The purpose of peer feedback is to provide us with more
opportunities to learn from the others. After each assignment, two or more
students can work together to check each other’s work and give comment on the
assignment. It can be in the form of corrections, opinions, suggestions, ideas
to each other. This form of learning can provide diversity as students do not
just listen to the tutor’s guidance but also work with the peer to do more
practices in the assignment.
In SIE 2016 Effective Communication module, the task of
giving and receiving feedback is a normal norm for us as we are given opportunities to give
feedback to our peers. This allows us to interact and learn from each other.
This kind of learning is very new to me as previously I only get feedback from
my tutor only. Thus, the interaction between my peers and I are very minimal. Therefore, I personally feel that I learn a lot from this module through the peer and tutor feedback.
I still remember that time when we just start setting up our
blog and were given a task to start writing on our first post. We were given a
choice between 2 topics to write on which are “The importance of English for
me” and “Our English Journey”. I took “Our English Journey” as my topic as I
feel that it is more relevant to me. Soon after, I published my first post on
my blog. For my second part of my assignment, I have to give feedback to 3
peers in my blogger group. They are Daniel, Joey and Shengda. At the start I
thought that giving feedback is simply sharing my thought on their post but after
receiving Mr. Blackstone feedback myself, I realize that I should not only share my thoughts but also give constructive feedbacks to our peers and help them to
lookout for their careless grammar mistakes. In this process, my peers and I
get to learn from our mistake and improve together.
While looking back on my blog posts, I found out that I tend
to make a lot of careless mistake in my writing. While receiving the feedbacks
from both my peers and tutor, I can filter out all the careless mistakes and
make improvement on my writing assignments. For example, the reader response
assignment, it took 4 draft before the finalized version can be prefect. Whenever I look at back
at the previous drafts, there is a clear improvement for the next draft. We do received feedback on our oral presentation too which help shape us into better presenter as a whole.Therefore, I
think that feedback is very important and we should integrate that into our daily life.
Finally, 12 weeks have pass and we are at the end of the
module, I definitely feel that I will apply what I have learn from this module
on the other modules during my course. Feedback will
play an important part in my future assignments as I feel that integrating feedbacks to my future assignments will bring benefits to me.
We all need people who
will give us feedback. That’s how we improve. – Bill gates
Reader Response Draft 4
In the
article “Explosive growth in Asian cities:
Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015), the author mentions
that Asian cities have become the icon of the world's urban development trend
within this decade. Asian cities are having population influx which forces
these cities to expand. It is also a challenge for huge cities to provide
essential services like water and housing. According to the author South-east
Asia cities tackle this problem with their “flexible governments, resourceful
citizens and local infrastructure innovation." Using of technological
applications like QLUE can help reduce social challenge like water and flooding.
The author highlights that city governments should be “generative” and not only
invest in infrastructure but also use it to produce innovative “business
models” that help economic growth.
While I agree to an extent that both Asia and Southeast Asia
governments need to do more to improve the life of their people in their
countries, governments have to make use of this opportunity when urbanization takes
place in the country or city. I feel that the poorer people in South-east Asia
countries will not get to enjoy benefits like improved education, healthcare
and social services from this urbanization opportunity. As the benefits are
inaccessible with Southeast Asia countries like Laos and Myanmar are poorer in
nature and they cannot keep up with the stress from providing essential needs
like housing and water to the people due to the impact of the urbanization.
Firstly, the article “Explosive
growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015)
examines Indonesia as one case study which describes the strategic approach
that used by the Indonesian government like infrastructure upgrades or the use
of advanced technology to decrease the impact of urbanization and also to
contribute in the development of the country. The writer mentions that
Indonesia faced overcrowding in its cities due to the problem from mass migration.
It has also been mentioned in the article “Overpopulated Jakarta” (2010) mentions that it is not hard to see the problem
of congestion in Jakarta and “slums” can be seen in many areas in the city
which also include the river bank. The editorial also reports that the city
government issued a bylaw that only allows the “entry of migrants into the city,
with only those who have guaranteed jobs allowed to live in the city, while
officers of the city public order agency often conduct raids against illegal
residents.” But those efforts still fail to solve the problem of overcrowding
in the city. As the population grew every day and as the demand of essential
needs like housing and water grows; more social challenges may also pop out.
Therefore, I can conclude that the poorer people in South-east Asia countries will
suffer even more as times goes by with the lack of the essential needs like
housing and water in their country.
Secondly, Khanna (2015)
writes in the article that the use of the advanced technologies can help
decrease the impact of such social issues arising from urbanization. The writer
talks about Jakarta taking advantage of a “crowd-sourcing mobile application”
called QLUE that allows its residents to report to the authorities on any local
matters such as flooding, waste collection or traffic immediately. It was
reported in Woetzel (2014) that adapting of newly advanced technology is fast
in ASEAN. For example, mobile phones can be found almost everywhere across the ASEAN
region but there is a significant difference in “digital readiness and
capabilities by country”. For example, Indonesia is ranked 64th in the world in
terms of their readiness towards newly advanced technology, yet Laos being
another ASEAN country is ranked at 109th in the world. The author has also
mentions that there are differences in their digital development even between
countries even when they are located near each other. Therefore, not all
countries can use these newly advanced technologies like mobile application to
their advantages as there are huge differences between countries, in terms of
their business economic performance, governance practices and affordability of
such advanced technology. In conclusion, I believe that the using of advanced technologies
may not be suitable to all people in South-east Asia countries, especially to
those poorer people as they do not have the ability to afford such advanced
technologies as they are struggling to survive in their country.
In general, the article did emphasize on a few valid points
on the way how countries like Indonesia can make use of this opportunity to
improve their country using various methods like the use of advanced
technologies or infrastructure upgrades. However, poorer people in South-east
Asia countries like Myanmar and Laos, may not be able to enjoy the benefits like
improved education, healthcare and social services from the impact of the
urbanization at all. As these countries will not be able to keep up with the stress
from the lack of the essential needs like housing and water due to the
urbanization thread in their countries and cities.
(833 words)
References
Khanna , P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian
cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment
Resources:
Overpopulated Jakarta. (2010, August 21). The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/21/editorial-overpopulated-jakarta.html
Woetzel, J., Tonby, O., Thompson, F., Lee, G., & Burtt, P. (2014, November).
Southeast Asia at the crossroads three
paths to prosperity. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwjS3sTL16HIAhUFC44KHRr_AiI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.Mckinsey.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2FMcKinsey%2Fdotcom%2FInsights%2FEnergy%2520Resources%2520Materials%2FThree%2520paths%2520to%2520sustained%2520economic%2520growth%2520in%2520Southeast%2520Asia%2FMGI%2520SE%2520Asia_Full%2520report_November%25202014.ashx&usg=AFQjCNHaYlZNobirMywu-P5mZ_651
GM6Q&sig2= 2m 29dNFM3UPHereZd3OdYw&bvm=bv.104226188,d.c2E&cad=rja
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
One person that inspired me
Is there ever been a person in your life that had inspired
you to do anything? For me that person will be my late grandmother. She is one
of the most self-motivated person that I ever knew in my life. No matter what
kind of problems she faced, she always seem to have a way to handle it.
Sometimes I also wonder how she get that kind of strength to deal with so many challenges in life. Being able to raise 6 children including my father single
handily makes me really wonder how she did it. I still remember whenever I
visit her, she always welcome me with a smile. She just doesn't seem to have
any problem in her life at all.
There was this particular scene that I can still remember despite
it happened a few years ago. It was during a family dinner when she told our
family that she has been diagnosed with leukaemia. The doctor told her that it
is in the 2nd stage and she needs to go for chemotherapy treatment
as soon as possible. The usual rowdy family dinner become dead silent and
weeping sound can be heard from everyone on the table. Whenever I think of this
scene, it can still bring tears to me. However, my grandmother said “不要哭了,我还没死。我会没事的, 一定会好起来。”. In English which means “Do not cry, I'm not dead
yet. I'll be fine and healthy in no time.” She then told us not to be sad and be grateful
as there is available medical treatment for her.
I still remember visiting her at the hospital when her
condition became worsen. Whenever I went to the hospital to visit her, she
always greet me with her signature smile. That was this particular day when I
ask her how she feeling now. She told me that she is feeling better every day
and the pain she suffer now will help her in fighting leukemia. She told me
that she wants to get better so that she can see us growing up and forming our
own family. She told me that she particularly hope that I can get into
university as I am the eldest son in my family.
Sadly, after fighting with leukaemia for 5 years, she pass
away. It was during my final year in polytechnic when she pass away. This
greatly affected me and I was unable to concentrate in class at all. My closest
friend, Rui Xuan was unable to bear to see me like that any more and decided to
wake me up from this nonsense. He said
to me that “do you really think that this is what your grandmother want? She
want you to excel in your academics and get into university.” This was when I wake up and decided
to work hard on my grade and get into university.
Now that I am in SIT, I want to finish this course and make
her proud. This is both my and her dream and I hope to be able to do it. This is a short
story of how a grandson is inspired by his own grandmother.
Difficult doesn’t mean
impossible, it simply means that you have work hard.- unknown
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Oral Presentation Reflection
On
the 9th November 2015, my group and I had our first formal
presentation for the trimester. The task
of the day is to present our proposed solution that we came up with. I feel very nervous because my last oral presentation was 2 years ago.This presentation is very special to me as
this will be my first time doing a presentation without any cue card.
I
was feeling excited for the presentation as I will be sharing our solution
to the class.I knew that it will be a fun and exciting experience as we will
be answering questions from the class during the question and answer section. I feel that the questions from the class can definitely help us understand the flaws of the solution and make improvement on it.
I
tried my best during the presentation and it went pass so quickly. My peers feedback to me that I was speaking so fast when I am presenting to them. I realise my mistake and I should have slow down my pace so that the audience can understand the
content that I am sharing with them. During the presentation, I also forgotten what
I wanted to say during the slides and I decided to take a look at my phone to remember
what I wanted to present. Lucky for me, I manage to get back on track to finish the presentation.
I was very happy that the presentation slides were well received by the class
because the team and I spent a lot of effort and time on it.
I
was glad the presentation is over. From all the feedbacks I got from my peers,
I will learnt from my mistakes and improve for my presentation in the future.
“learn, unlearn and relearn”
“learn, unlearn and relearn”
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Reader Response Draft 3
In the
article “Explosive growth in Asian cities:
Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015), the author mention
that Asian cities have become the icon of the world's urban development trend
within this decade. Asian cities are having population influx which forces
cities to expand. It is also a challenge for huge cities to provide essential
services like water and housing. South-east Asia cities tackle this problem
with their “flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure
innovation." Using of technological
applications like QLUE can help reduce social challenge like water and flooding.
The author highlights that city governments should be “generative” and not only
invest in infrastructure but also use it to produce innovative “business
models” that help economic growth.
While I agree to an extent that both Asia and Southeast Asia
governments need to do more to improve the life of their people in their
countries, governments have to also make use that they make use of this
opportunity when urbanization takes place in the country or city. I feel that
the poorer people in South-east Asia countries will not get to enjoy the benefit
from this urbanization opportunity as the benefit is inaccessible with the majority
people in Southeast Asia are poorer in nature and they cannot keep up with the
stress from the lack the of the essential needs like housing and water due to
the impact of the urbanization that happen in their countries and cities.
Firstly, the article “Explosive
growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015)
examines Indonesia as one case study which talks about the strategy approach
that is use by the Indonesia government like infrastructure upgrade or the use
of advanced technology to decrease the impact of urbanization and also to
contribute in the development of the country. The writer mentions that
Indonesia face overcrowding in its cities due to the problem from mass migration.
It has also been mentioned in the article “Overpopulated Jakarta” (2010) by the
author that it is not hard to see the problem of congestion in Jakarta and you
can still see “slums” in many areas in the city which also include the river
bank. An editorial from the article “Overpopulated Jakarta” (2010) also reports
that the city government issued a bylaw that only allows the “entry of migrants
into the city, with only those who have guaranteed jobs allowed to live in the
city, while officers of the city public order agency often conduct raids
against illegal residents.” But those efforts still failed to solve the problem
of overcrowding in the city. As the population grows everyday and the demand of
essential needs like housing and water grows, more social challenges may also
pop out. Therefore, I can conclude that the poorer people in South-east Asia
countries will suffer even more as times goes by with the lack of the essential
needs like housing and water in their country.
Secondly, Khanna (2015)
writes in the article that the using of the advanced technologies can help
decrease the impact of such social issues arose from urbanization. The writer
talks about Jakarta taking advantage of a “crowd-sourcing mobile application”
called QLUE that allows their residents to report to the authorities on any
local matters such as flooding, waste collection or traffic to the government
immediately. It was reported in Woetzel (2014) that accustom of newly advanced
technology is fast in ASEAN. For example, mobile phone can be found almost
everywhere across the ASEAN region but there is a significant difference in
“digital readiness and capabilities by country”. For example, Indonesia is
ranked 64th in the world in terms of their readiness towards newly advanced
technology, yet Laos being another ASEAN country is ranked at 109th in the
world. Woetzel (2014) has also mentions that there are differences in their
digital development even between countries even where they are locating near
each other. Therefore, not all countries can use these newly advanced technologies
like mobile application to their advantages as there are huge differences
between countries, in terms of their business economic performance, governance
practices and affordability of such advanced technology. In conclusion, I
believe that the using of advanced technologies may not be suitable to all South-east
Asia countries, especially to those poorer people in South East Asia as they do
not have the ability to afford such advanced technologies as they can barely
surviving in their country.
In general, the article did emphasize on a few valid points
on the way how countries like Indonesia can make use of this opportunity to
improve their country using various method like the use of advanced
technologies or infrastructure upgrade. However poorer people in the South-east
Asia countries, may not be able to enjoy the benefit from the impact of the
urbanization at all as they do not have the ability to afford any form of advanced
technologies and they will not be able to keep up with the stress from the lack
the of the essential needs like housing and water due to the urbanization
thread in their countries and cities.
(728 words)
References
Khanna , P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian
cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment
Resources:
Overpopulated Jakarta. (2010, August 21). The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/21/editorial-overpopulated-jakarta.html
Woetzel, J., Tonby, O., Thompson, F., Lee, G., & Burtt, P. (2014, November).
Southeast Asia at the crossroads three
paths to prosperity. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwjS3sTL16HIAhUFC44KHRr_AiI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.Mckinsey.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2FMcKinsey%2Fdotcom%2FInsights%2FEnergy%2520Resources%2520Materials%2FThree%2520paths%2520to%2520sustained%2520economic%2520growth%2520in%2520Southeast%2520Asia%2FMGI%2520SE%2520Asia_Full%2520report_November%25202014.ashx&usg=AFQjCNHaYlZNobirMywu-P5mZ_651
GM6Q&sig2= 2m 29dNFM3UPHereZd3OdYw&bvm=bv.104226188,d.c2E&cad=rja
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Reader Response Draft 2
In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to
'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015) mention that Asian cities have
become the icon of the world's urban development trend within this decade.
Asian cities are having population influx which forces cities to expand.
South-east Asia cities tackle this problem with their “flexible governments,
resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." It is also a
challenge for huge cities to provide essential services like water and housing.
Using of technological application like QLUE can help reduce
social challenge like water flooding. The author highlights that city governments should be
“generative” and not only invest in infrastructure but also use it to produce
innovative “business models” that help economy growth.
While I agree to an extent that the both Asia and Southeast Asia
government needs to do more for their countries or cities and make use of the
opportunity when urbanization takes place, I also feel that the idea that
South-east Asia countries can get hold and improve using this urbanization
opportunity is inaccessible as many of the South-east Asia countries are poorer
in nature and cannot keep up with the stress from the impact of the
urbanization in their countries and cities.
Firstly, the article examines Indonesia
as one of the case study
which follow by the strategy approach that is use to
continue to improve. The writer also mentions that Indonesia face overcrowding in their
city due to the problem from
urbanization. It was also mentions by The
Jakarta Post (2010) that it is not hard to see the problem of congestion in Jakarta
and you can still see “slums” in many areas in the city which also include the
river bank. The Jakarta Post (2010) also reports that the city government issued
a bylaw that only allows the “entry of migrants into the city, with only those
who have guaranteed jobs allowed to live in the city, while officers of the
city public order agency often conduct raids against illegal residents.” But those
efforts still failed to solve the problem of overcrowding in the city. With the population growing everyday and
the demand of essential need like housing grows, more social challenges may even pop out. Therefore, I can
conclude that Indonesia and the other poorer South-east Asia countries will suffer even
more as times goes by.
Secondly, he writes in the article that the using of the advance
technologies can help decrease the impact of such social issues arises from
urbanization. The writer talks about Jakarta as an example in his article in
which Jakarta is taking advantage of a “crowd-sourcing mobile application”
called QLUE that allows their residents to report to the authorities on any
local matters such as flooding, waste collection or traffic to the government
immediately. It was report in Jonathan (2014)
that accustom of new technology is fast in ASEAN but there is significant
difference in “digital readiness and capabilities by country”. For example,
Indonesia is ranked 64 in the world of their readiness towards new technology yet
Myanmar being another ASEAN country is ranked at 146 in the world. Jonathan (2014)
also mentions that there are many differences between countries even when they
located near each other. Therefore, not all countries can use these
newly advance technologies to
their advantages as there are
huge differences between countries, in terms of their business economic performance, governance practices and affordability of such advance technology. Therefore,
I believe that the using of
the advance technologies may not be suitable to all countries especially to
those poorer countries like Myanmar or
Laos.
In conclusion, the article did emphasize on a few valid point on
the way how countries like Indonesia can make use of this opportunity to improve. But the poorer countries like Myanmar or Laos may not be
able to do it at all as they are poorer in nature and cannot keep up with the stress from the
impact of the urbanization in their countries and cities.
(544 words)
(Edited on 30/9/2015)
References
Article:
Khanna , P. (2015). Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright
ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved June 11, 2015 from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment
Resources:
The Jakarta Post. (2010). Overpopulated Jakarta.
Retrieved August 21,2011 from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/21/editorial-overpopulated-jakarta.html
Woetzel,
J.,& Tonby, O., & Thompson, F., & Lee, G., & Burtt, P. (2014).
Southeast Asia at the crossroads three paths to prosperity. Retrieved October
2, 2015 from Washington, D.C.: McKinsey Global Institute: https://www.google.com.sg/ url?sa= t&rct=j&q= &esrc =s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwjS3sTL16HIAhUFC44KHRr_AiI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mckinsey.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2FMcKinsey%2Fdotcom%2FInsights%2FEnergy%2520Resources%2520Materials%2FThree%2520paths%2520to%2520sustained%2520economic%2520growth%2520in%2520Southeast%2520Asia%2FMGI%2520SE%2520Asia_Full%2520report_November%25202014.ashx&usg=AFQjCNHaYlZNobirMywu-P5mZ_651 GM6Q&sig2= 2m 29dNFM3UPHereZd3OdYw&bvm= bv. 104226188,d.c2E&cad=rja
Sunday, 27 September 2015
Reader Response to Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'
In the
article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban
moment’” by Khanna (2015) mention that Asian cities have become the icon of the
world's urban development trend within this decade. Asian cities are having
population influx which forces cities to expand and reactive policies to
population growth and global warming are insufficient. South-east Asia cities
tackle this problem with their “flexible governments, resourceful citizens and
local infrastructure innovation." It is also a challenge for huge cities
to provide essential services. The author highlights that city governments
should be “generative” and not only invest in infrastructure but also use it to
produce innovative “business models” that help economy growth. South-east Asia
cities are becoming the icon of urban development in this century.
He
emphasizes in the article that the both Asia and Southeast Asia government
needs to do more for their countries or cities and make use of the opportunity when
urbanization takes place. He also acknowledges
that Southeast Asia government of their effort in resolving the problem due to
the sudden surge of population growth and the rapid urbanization in the cities but
the truth is many Southeast countries cannot handle this rapid urbanization. These
countries not only do not have the resources but also the man power to handle such
situation. Therefore the idea that South-east Asia countries can get hold and
improve using this urbanization opportunity is inaccessible as many of the
South-east Asia countries are poorer in nature and cannot keep up with the
stress from the impact of the urbanization.
Firstly,
the article examines three Southeast Asia countries which follow by the
different strategies approach that are use to allow the countries to continue
to improve. The writer also talks about problems that these countries face due
to the problem from urbanization like the need of housing and water. Countries
can be seen that they are not capable to handle such social challenges. It will
then force the city governments to address these social challenges: to bring
about, almost immediately, while mitigating and adapting to the changes. With
the population growing everyday and the demand of essential need grows, more
social challenges will pop out. Therefore, I believe that these South-east
Asia countries without the resources and the
man power to handle such challenges; they will suffer
even more as times goes by.
Secondly,
he writes in the article that the using of the advance technologies can help
decrease the impact of such social issues arises from urbanization. The writer
uses Jakarta as an example in his article in which Jakarta is taking advantage
of a “crowd-sourcing mobile application” called QLUE that allows their residents
to report to the authorities on any local matters such as flooding, waste
collection or traffic to the government immediately. Another similar mobile application,
Cepat Respon Opini Publik, can help notifies the nearest and most relevant
government officials to the QLUE reports that were generated by the residents and
allows city government officials to respond directly to the public. But not all
countries can use these advance technologies to their advantages as there are huge differences
between countries, in terms of economic performance, governance practices and
cultural behavior. Therefore I believe that the using of the advance technologies
may not be suitable to all countries especially to those poorer ones.
Finally,
rapid urbanization can lead to serious difference be it in society or the
balance in the economy. The raise of population from urbanization may grow
faster than the economy to handle; or the economy may grow but it does not mean
reducing of the poverty in the country or city. This may due the local
governments lacking in “urban management capacity” to make these areas to function
efficiently and to protect the citizens from all the problems.
In
conclusion, the article did emphasize on a few valid point on the different way
how countries can make use of this opportunity to improve. But the
writer mainly talks about the good points that will bring to the Southeast Asia
countries yet he did not really touch on the difficult aspect that would bring
to the countries when urbanization takes place. Only with government that has
good knowledge on how to handle such problem, whether it is with the advance technologies
or not, urbanization will not be a bad thing after all.
(599
words without summary)
References
Article:
Khanna , P. (2015).
Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits
Times. Retrieved June 11, 2015 from
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment
Resources:
Yuen.B &
Kong.L. (2009). Climate Change and Urban Planning in Southeast Asia. Sapiens Revues.
Retrieved December 18, 2009 from https://sapiens.revues.org/881
Yap , K .S.
(2010). Urban Challenges in South-East Asia. ResearchGate. Retrieved September
26, 2015 from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 236142386_ Urban_Challenges_in_South-East_Asia
Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Summary :Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’”
In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna(2015) mention that Asian cities have become the icon of the world's urban development trend within this decade. Asian cities are having population influx which forces cities to expand and "reactive policies" to population growth and global warming are insufficient. South-east Asia cities tackle this problem with their “flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." It is also a challenge for huge cities to provide essential services. The author highlight that government should not only invest in infrastructure but also use it to produce innovative "business models" that help economy growth. South-east Asia cities are becoming the icon of urban development in this century.
(122 words)
EDITED on 27/9/2015
EDITED on 27/9/2015
Thursday, 10 September 2015
My English Learning Journey
English plays an important role in my daily life. The main
language of instruction in Singapore is English which was designed to be the
first language within all local education system dated from 1987. Children
start learning this language by the time they reach preschool and this mode of
education is to encourage all types of people to be able to communicate in a
common language. I myself was enrolled into this education system created for
Singaporean.
I myself come from a Chinese-speaking family where both my parents
seldom communicate to me in English. Definitely without any doubt, I have more
interest in Chinese. Throughout my basic ten years education journey, I was getting
a pass for English only and scored badly for some occasions. One good example
was during my ‘O’ level when I got a grade of D7 for my English subject which
literally killed my chance of getting into any polytechnic. I went to ITE as a
result and I spend an extra 2 years to get to the polytechnic .From that day
onwards, I decided to work hard on my English and started to read different
kinds of English materials like the newspaper and novel so to improve my
situation.
I realize that reading the text aloud has helped me to write
English better on my reports during polytechnic; this was often neglected by
many students in my course as they simply wrote down whatever that came to
their mind and were done with it.
English is a lifelong learning journey. I hope that this module,
Effective Communication, can help me understand more about this language.
(EDITED on 16/9/2015)
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