There is clear enthusiasm in his voice while talking about his chosen city Singapore, and its perfect reader-friendly library system. On the other hand he has to admit to make a hard choice: he gave up on chewing gums, as they are prohibited in Singapore.
Imre Bogdan, project executive in the People to People Exchange Department of Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is the main organiser of the first Asian- European dialogue of urban leaders held in Madrid between the 10th and 16th November 2008. Interview:
– What is the main goal of the conference?
Nowadays, when cities and global settlements make up more then 75% of the world population, the goal of the conference is to create an Asian- European network that can share the knowledge and expertise in terms of urban development and urban management. I believe we need an exchange between Europe and Asia, because on both continents there are different practices on the urban level, from which everyone can learn, as for example from the functioning of the urban transport system in Asia.
– But it is going to be just an exchange of ideas on a personal level…
I truly hope not. We are encouraging the participants – young urban leaders – to pull their knowledge together, to keep sharing their experiences on an institutional level as well.
– Who do you consider as an “urban leader”?
Mostly young people who have been exceeding in any level – political, cultural or social – the ones who made an achievement for their urban community.
– Can we consider a certain tendency of uniformity of globalized cities, or, with other words do we head to this direction?
I think it is not possible, as there are some models of functioning which would not work in Asia for cultural and traditional reasons, and vice-versa. As long as we share expertise, and see how we can implement the knowledge on a local or national level of our community, we should not have to be worried by uniformity. There is no only one perfect model which can be applied everywhere, we rather can talk about having a model which could be functional in the way local culture functions.
Posted in 2008-04: First Asia-Europe Young Urban Leaders Dialogue | 15.11.2008
