Shanghai Daily news

Serving as a communication platform to discuss urban development, Forum 2006 -- Expo 2010 Shanghai China, themed "Better City, Better Life-making it happen, making it last," provided a stage for experts and scholars to share their suggestions on how to develop an ideal city.

"I think the most important aspect of creating an ideal city is that we have respect, not only from the bottom of our heart, but to everyone, poor or rich," Phillip Martin, a writer and independent radio producer from American told our reporter at the forum.

"We should invite them (socially vulnerable groups) to these events and extend our open arms, so they too can be a part of these important changes," Martin added.

Several other experts talked about residents' belonging to vulnerable groups.

Manuel Tornare, mayor of Geneva, Switzerland said: "If we could make immigrants feel as though they're a part of the city and shoulder the responsibilities of city development, violence and conflicts would ease."

Responding to the questions on how to aid this census and make their neighborhoods more harmonious, Saskia Sassen, professor of Sociology, University of Chicago said: "With economic globalisation, the traces of re-nationalizing and denationalizing are both happening in the city. We need to invent new administrative political and civic instruments to help these new forces."

The construction of the city and the Expo site were also hot topics during the panel discussions.

"As I mentioned in my speech, a 'Compact City' is the ideal city in my mind," Shizuo Harada, chief producer of Japan association for the 2005 World Exposition, told our reporter. A "'Compact City' is not a sprawled city, so highly developed areas and the natural environmental should coexist."

Jean-Marie Charpentier, famous French architect and urbanist mentioned that though skyscrapers are still a symbol of economic strength, cities need more environmentally-friendly constructions rather than iron Eiffel's in its central area.

"Don't be a copy machine," Manuel Tornare said in the last panel discussion. He emphasised the importance of a city's uniqueness and its respect of historical legacies, which highly affect the essence of a city's development.

To conclude the event, Zhou Hanmin, deputy director general of the Bureau of World Expo Coordination, said the forum made the Expo not just a Shanghai expo, or a China Expo but definitely a World Expo. And that the ideas and suggestions would not be confined to the hotel but would be spread all over the world.

The forum concluded with great success as all the suggestions were constructive and beneficial. With questions posed, whether solved or unsolved, the forum participants and the organisers of the Expo 2010, are now itching closer to an ideal city.