KUALA LUMPUR: Think City and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) have signed their third Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to make Kuala Lumpur a more livable, resilient, and sustainable city

They have jointly launched the Creative KL Grants Programme and the Creative KL Urban Challenge to revitalise Kuala Lumpur, one of the major focuses of Budget 2023.

The measures, according to Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh, speed up DBKL's cooperation in enhancing the city's status as a creative destination, enhancing liveability, enhancing the public realm, enhancing space activation, and more.

The schemes are in line with the Kuala Lumpur Creative and Cultural District Strategic Master Plan (KLCCD), which was developed in 2019 between Think City and DBKL, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC), the Department of National Heritage (JWN), and Yayasan Hasanah, with the goal of revitalising the historical district of Kuala Lumpur.

The goal of the Creative KL Urban Challenge is to bring together residents, universities, creative practitioners, professionals, hackers, designers, innovators, urban planners, and experts, as well as developers and programmers, in order to collaborate and create innovative urban solutions that will enhance Downtown KL and the lives of its residents.

Think City's managing director, Hamdan Abdul Majeed, said that it is aware of the creative economy's potential to help build thriving cities.

He firmly believes that having a vibrant creative and cultural environment is essential for an impact organisation committed to making cities liveable.

"The RM15 million allocated under Budget 2023 will further catalyse the rejuvenation and revitalisation of Downtown KL and its adjacent significant areas, and help address some of the pertinent issues in making the city centre sustainable and liveable," he said.

According to Hamdan, these measures are expected to generate 200 events that will energise the city centre, more than 1,300 job opportunities, and an overall improvement in the quality of life.

By using Downtown KL as a regional hub for culture-based urban renewal and guiding the expansion of the cultural and creative economy for other cities in the nation and the region, it seeks to highlight Malaysia's best urban solutions, Hamdan said.