JOHOR BAHRU, 20th March 2013: Two teams of 8 students from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning Programme won the heart of an eminent panel of international judges for their visionary ideas towards a sustainable waterfront in Iskandar Malaysia.
The UTM teams bagged the 1st and 2nd Runners Up in Category C of the ‘Planning a Clean & Green Waterfront: Youth Leaders for a Sustainable Future Competition 2013’, which pitched them against top Singaporean tertiary institutions.
The team presented their proposal and development concept at Tampines Regional Library on 16th March and the award ceremony took place at Scape Gallery, Orchard Road, Singapore on the following day.
The prestigious competition, which commenced on 02 February 2013 and concluded in the Final Prototype Building and Prize Award Ceremony on 17 March 2013, was organised by Activistar Private Limited, Singapore.
The competition featured prominent international partners/sponsors such as the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA); the Urban Land Institute (ULI); International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP); Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) by ETH Zurich and Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF); and Centre for Liveable Cities Singapore.
The competition was supported by the Swiss Embassy; Embassy of Vietnam; the Belgium Embassy; the National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore; Asia Europe Foundation; Holcim; Procter & Gamble; Pacific Radiance; Mulpha Holdings; and Keppel Land International, among others.
The panel of judges comprised ambassadors, professors, CEOs and senior officials who hailed from the above partners/sponsors.
Five UTM teams comprising 20 Year-3 Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning students submitted five proposals to the competition and all five teams were admitted to the finals after strict screenings of proposals, placing them against five other finalists from Singaporean tertiary institutions.
In the final rounds, finalists were required to orally present and defend their proposals before a select panel of judges and construct a prototype model of their proposal in three hours, after which the final judgment was made.
The two UTM teams winning at the competition testify to the quality of research and teaching at the university, creating innovative and competent UTM students who have the capacity of competing at the global stage, at par with prominent institutions in the region.