Cities live and die by attracting people and giving them reasons to stay - clear blue skies, clean water, smooth traffic and good schools.

Delegates to next week's World Cities Summit and International Water Week in Singapore will be studying cities such as Yokohama in Japan to figure out how it's done.

» Hot topic: Keeping our cities growing and green

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» Going green: 10 Lifestyle Tips

» Green urbanites

» Prepared for water crisis? Singapore shows the way

» Water meet to get ideas to flow across divides

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 21 June 2008.