The Culture and Creativity Infrastructure

Manchester has a very strong cultural offering and heritage. The city center, a creativity center for the city, is among the World Heritage Sites.

It consists of a network of canals and mills, which were constructed in the 19th century. On the other hand the city center was renovated and transformed into high-quality projects in order to enhance the existing urban texture. These projects include the Betham Tower, the highest residential building in Western Europe. The city center has the Lowry Theater, an art & glass gallery, and the Imperial War Museum. Manchester’s creative and cultural institutions include: Royal Northern College of Music, other venues for introducing music, an opera house and 5 theaters, an exhibition center, and Museums such as: The Manchester Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, Imperial War Museum North and the People’s History Museum [15].

1.2.5 Urban Facilities

The city includes a number of urban facilities that directly contribute to enriching life in the city. The city includes: an open space, one of largest in Europe, with an approximate area of 3 km2_{; winner of the}

Heaton Park Award. Manchester has a total of 135 parks, gardens and open spaces within the city. A commercial district in the city center: a mixed-use project with vast office spaces, restaurants, and shopping centers.

The Manchester City Region faces many challenges in the area of public health with poor health statistics and inequalities in healthcare provision. The city has implemented a number of initiatives to address these challenges including. The Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC) is a UK first; a federal partnership of six major teaching hospitals in Greater Manchester and the University of Manchester covering the full spectrum of healthcare. Manchester officials hope that by 2015, Manchester citizens will be the wealthier and healthier [15].

1.3 Singapore

The unique location of Singapore resulted in easy connection with global markets such as Japan, China, and Australia. As a consequence Singapore was the best place for conference hosting in the world in 2009. Also, Singapore comes first in shopping all over the world. Hot humid climate prevails in Singapore. Singapore is relatively safe from seismic activities in the region. The approximate area of Singapore is 710 km2_{, with about 5.2 people living there.}

In 2009, the government established an economic strategy committee for investigating the challenges facing Singapore. The committee recommended a critical transformation for enhancing growth through skills and innovation. The committee also recommended that Singapore should become a vivid, open, diverse city.

In 2012, Singapore came first in the MAKCI award as a Metropolitan KC. So, the urban and architectural potentials of the city will be analyzed [16].

1.3.1 Basic infrastructure

• _{Potable water and sanitary drainage network:}

Singapore was ranked 1st in Mercer City Infrastructure Ranking, which includes several criteria such as water availability and sanitary drainage.

• Transportation:

Singapore also has world-class infrastructure (ranked 4th), leading the world in the quality of its roads, ports, and air transport facilities [16]. The road network extends for 3356 km, with 161 km of highways. Roads occupy 12% of the total area of Singapore. The underground network is taken for a public transportation network that extends over 130 km, and includes 85 stations [17].

The railroad network will be extended, leading to an increase in the total length of the network from 148 km to 278 km in 2020. The residential and commercial densities around railroad stations will be increased for achieving more development.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Singapore the 1st country holding the best quality of air transport and sea port infrastructures and making its best services available.

In terms of quality of trade and transport related infrastructure (e.g. Ports, railroads, roads, and information technology), Singapore scored the 3rd position, in World Bank’s International Logistics Index Ranking 2009.

1.3.2 Knowledge Institutions

The Singapore education system aims to help students discover their talents, realize their potential, and develop a passion for learning that lasts them through their lives. Singapore has various knowledge institutions having strong ties to ICT companies [18]:5 public universities, 10 private universities and institutes; 852 research organization; more than 350 schools; primary and secondary.

Singapore is constantly working to enrich and transform the learning environments of its students and to equip them with the critical competencies to succeed in a knowledge-based economy. A key thrust is the purposeful integration of ICT into all types of lessons to enhance the students’ learning experience. Additional funding and resources enable schools to seed innovative teaching methods. A group of “future schools” are partnering industry players to use state-of-the-art technology to pilot new teaching and learning experiences [19].

1.3.3 ICT infrastructure

Starting in the early 1980s, the government played a crucial role in promoting and enhancing the use of Internet & ICT. The aim was to boost advanced technological activities that would rank Singapore high in that field; by using IT for boosting the economy. Hence, Singapore came in advanced positions in various conferences and economic forums:

• Singapore was ranked the 11th in UN e-Government Development Index 2012.

• In the Enabling Trade Index, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Singapore the 1st country holding the best quality of air transport and sea port infrastructures and making its best services available. • _{Singapore was ranked the 4th in the WEF’s The Networked Readiness Index 2008–2009.}

Singapore also has other ICT means: Domestic & International radio and TV channels; Broadband Internet network; and the first Universal Studios, the only in Southeast Asia [16].