Sunway University in Selangor, Malaysia and Lancaster University in the UK have recently launched the Future Cities Research Institute (FCRI) at Sunway University.
The FCRI is a joint collaboration which will complement the work of the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainability Development, capitalize on Sunway’s work in developing sustainable urban environments in Malaysia, and continue Lancaster’s research in ‘cities and surrounding hinterlands’.
Professor Graeme Wilkinson, Vice-Chancellor of Sunway University commented that, “We are now taking the Sunway Lancaster partnership into a new phase as we extend the collaboration very firmly into the area of research. The joint Future Cities Research Institute will focus on one of the biggest challenges facing mankind, namely how to make cities more livable and sustainable in the future. It is predicted that by 2050 more than 80% of the population in Europe and North America and more than 60% of the population in Africa and Asia will live in cities, totaling around 6.7 billion people. It is therefore entirely fitting for us to choose the challenges of urbanization to be the focus for our first joint research institute.”
The FCRI will develop a portfolio of research that may include design for healthy living, people-based infrastructure, night-time urban environments, and urban food security. Researchers will use Sunway City Kuala Lumpur – the group’s 800-acre township which has been transformed from a mining wasteland – as a ‘living lab.’
“Our efforts at Sunway are driven by our recognition that realizing the SDGs is not the sole responsibility of governments. It requires the commitment of all sectors of society — the private sector, academia, civil society, and, of course, every single individual. We are all in this together,” said Tan Sri Dr Cheah, chancellor at Sunway.