IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Seeking a Better Urban Future (ePub)

Dr Cheong Koon Hean, CEO of the Housing and Development Board (2010–Present) was the Institute of Policy Studies' 5th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book contains edited versions of the three IPS-Nathan Lectures she gave between March and April 2018, and highlights of her dialogue with the audience.

Climate change, an ageing population, anti-globalisation sentiments the world over, technological disruption, and social media all pose unique problems and opportunities to cities. Dr Cheong examines how cities deal with their urban challenges to create a better life for their citizens. In particular, what are the considerations needed to plan and develop Singapore in the face of rapid change and uncertainty, given our constraints as a small city-state with an open economy?

The IPS-Nathan Lectures series was launched in 2014 as part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore. The S R Nathan Fellow delivers a series of lectures during their term to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest.

• Foreword
• About the Moderators
• Lecture I: What Makes A City Successful? Lessons from Inspiring Cities
• Lecture II: Anticipating Our Urban Future: Trends, Threats and Transformation
• Lecture III: Shaping The Future of Heartland Living

• Other than textbooks, few titles delve into the principles, practicalities and challenges of urban planning, especially in a manner that is easy to digest and unencumbered by jargon — for instance, engineering technicalities are raised but not gone into detail; the human perspective and how such innovations relate to urban-dwellers' everyday lives are instead prioritised
• Books on topics like urban planning tend to be narrow in scope, whereas this book offers a global perspective on good urban planning and provides a broad public policy context which urban planners must take into account — an ageing society, profound economic and technological changes, shifts in social norms regarding work and family, etc.
• There is a strong sense of empowerment and inspiration in the book, which is not common in books written by authority figures, especially in a sector that is heavily dominated by the Singapore government. Students who attended Dr Cheong's lectures had expressed interest in becoming urban planners