Yeosijae hosted an international forum in Beijing, China.

Smart cities will also be unsustainable if we continue down the current trend
Let’s put next civilized cities at the heart of Asia’s agenda

Yeosijae (Future Consensus Institute) held the “2019 Next Civilized City Forum” under the theme “Next Era, Next Civilization, Next Civilized City” in Beijing, China on November 2-3. The Forum invited numerous global leaders and experts from South Korea, China, India, and EU countries.

From the Korean side, Ban Ki-Moon, former UN Secretary-General, Kwang-Jae Lee, president of Yeosijae, Won-Soo Kim, former Under-Secretary-General of the UN and chair of the International Advisory Board at Yeosijae, Doh-Yeon Kim, former president of POSTECH and director of Yeosijae, Hee-Ok Lee, director of the Sungkyun Institute of China Studies, attended the Forum along with leading business entrepreneurs. From the Chinese side, Zhao Qizheng, former director of the State Council Information Office, Shi Kuang, designer of the Suzhou Industrial Park, and heads of urban planning agencies participated in the Forum. Finally, some of the world’s most renowned figures including former UNESCO General Director Irina Bokova and the Forum for a New South Asia Founder Sudheendra Kulkarni joined the Forum as hosts and panelists.

The panel made it clear that smart cities will be unsustainable if we continue down the current path. This is why cooperation must extend beyond national boundaries to solve the problem of polarization and build cities based on the environment, ecosystems, and public concerns. Moreover, they highlighted that building next civilized cities should be elevated to a key part of Asia’s agenda rather than left to individual countries.

Yeosijae held an international forum in Beijing last April to explore the possibilities of building pilot cities for new urban civilizations. Over 1000 distinguished guests from companies such as Alibaba Group and Dassault Systèmes attended the forum. Yeosijae also held a separate session at the Boao Forum last March for the implementation and creation of such pilot cities.

At the most recent forum, participants tentatively agreed to provide a blueprint for next civilized cities at the Boao Forum and the Beijing Forum next year.

The “2019 Next Civilized City Forum” began with keynote speeches under the theme “Next Civilization: The End of Civilization or a New Beginning?” on November 2, and five sessions were held on November 3.