On May 1, 2010, the largest world exposition to date opened its doors in Shanghai, focusing on the theme "Better City, Better Life."

Inspired by this theme, the 8th Europe Asia Young Leaders Forum concentrated on the question of how cities develop solutions to address the major challenges of our times, including climate and demographic changes, shortage of resources, and a widening social and economic gap. The opportunities and risks of rapid economic development are especially evident in today's big cities. By and large, they are key beneficiaries of economic growth and the concentration of successful companies and top universities, and are very attractive for highly qualified elites and visitors. At the same time, they account for approximately 75 percent of global energy use, and an increase in traffic and urban sprawl in many places exacerbates the living conditions for the urban population.

During the introductory panel discussion on "Balancing Development and Environment," the three Chinese speakers demonstrated that these issues are intensively discussed in today's China, especially at the political and economic levels. Using the example of the development plan for Shanghai, urban planner Lin Wang showed how sustainability criteria are integrated into the older plans from the 1980s and 1990s and are implemented.

Illustrating the fact that China opens itself up to social innovation and international developments in this field, the contributors to the second panel on "Addressing the Social Challenges" sketched the development of social enterprise, corporate philanthropy, and volunteering, before entrepreneur Jianguo Qu discussed his personal motives for establishing two corporate foundations, which are among the earliest such undertakings in China.

Following the panel discussions, the participants divided into small groups and had the opportunity to get to know local projects that are committed to communal or civil society development. One field trip explored the issue of urban planning during a visit to one of the big design institutes that are of major importance for the development of standards and the implementation of construction projects in China. Another group visited a new, so-called "citizens center," which is managed by a Shanghai NGO in close coordination with governmental offices and is to become a multi-purpose community center for the neighborhood. During the third field trip, a visit to a school for migrant children, the participants gained insights into more recent developments in the education system as well as the commitment of volunteers who offer mentoring programs at the school.

During the third, and final, part of the Forum, the participants organized themselves into small groups based on their interests to focus on specific issues and problems of three initiatives that deal with sustainability in a variety of ways:

• Non-Profit Incubator (NPI) is an NGO founded in Shanghai in 2006, which aims to promote social entrepreneurs and provide them with both organizational and financial support.
• Fifty so-called KaosPilots, students at the KaosPilots School in Aarhus, Denmark, spent half a year in Shanghai to work on a project that is to result in a handbook presenting exemplary "Better City, Better Life" projects from all over the world to inspire imitation.
• The FenFang Foundation aims to identify and manage CSR projects for foreign medium-sized companies operating in China.

In dialogue with the heads of the three initiatives and organizations, who also participated in the conference, the Young Leaders contributed their competencies and tried to come up with solutions to the presented organizational and financial challenges.

The BMW Foundation promotes this cross-sectoral transfer of competencies and will continue to support these organizations in cooperation with its Young Leaders Network beyond the 8th Europe Asia Young Leaders Forum.

 

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