Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities Singapore University of Technology and Design Half of the world's population live in cities today. This will rise to 60% by 2030, and 70% by 2050. An estimated one million new people will join the world’s cities every week. In Asia, the changes will be even more pronounced. There will be an additional 1.1 billion people in its cities over the next 20 years. In Southeast Asia, the population living in urban areas is expected to reach 65% by 2050. China and India will contribute over a third of the world’s urban population increase between 2014 and 2050. The McKinsey Global Institute forecasts that in China, 1 billion people will live in cities by 2030; over 200 of these cities will have a population of more than 1 million. Rapid urbanisation presents great challenges. But, it also presents tremendous opportunities for innovators and policy-makers. We are at a juncture where cities that are managed wisely will be able to overcome limitations, raise the quality and standard of living of its citizens, and seize economic and social opportunities at the frontiers of the emerging new industrial revolution. About the Centre The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) was established in September 2012 as one of the research centres of excellence in the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The Centre seeks to stimulate thinking and research on the critical issues of cities and urbanisation and explores the integrated use of technology, design and policy to provide urban solutions. LKYCIC’s research areas include: Demographics Density Sustainability Resilience and Risk Mobility and Connectivity Social Capital LKYCIC seeks partners in industry, business and government agencies for our research and education projects. The Centre intends to offer courses for graduate students as well as mid-level professionals, and provide opportunities for senior undergraduate students to be involved in research for urban innovation. It hosts talks, seminars and conferences that build a deeper understanding of cities, the role of cities, the future of cities, and the technology and design solutions for cities. The Centre will work to bring cities together to understand, from the experiences of Singapore and other successful cities, the best practices and innovative solutions for improving existing cities and for building future cities. Research Programmes and Projects The Centre has initiated three research programmes: The Lee Li Ming Programme in Ageing Urbanism A pluri-disciplinary programme that seeks to study people’s changing relationships with urban space in older age and to inform innovative urban design strategies for healthy ageing. The programme has convened these research: 1) Understanding the Changing Needs of Singapore’s Older Population; 2) Urban Form and Non-work Trip Pattern: A Study of Singaporean Residents with a Focus on Seniors; 3) Visual Art Participation and Ageing in Singapore; 4) An Evaluation of the Dementia-Friendly Communities Concept in Singapore. The Chen Tianqiao Research Programme on Urban Innovation The Chen Tianqiao Programme is designed around a better understanding of what innovation means in today’s cities, why it is so important to producing better outcomes, the multi-faceted processes and actors that propel it, and its implications for society and policy. The programme consists of two sub-units: 1) Cities and Innovation, and 2) Smart Cities Lab Sub-unit: Cities and Innovation A major thrust under the Programme is Cities and Innovation. Cities around the world are seeking to enhance their status as global cities. They are increasingly doing so through economic and social development founded on innovation. Current debates on urbanisation, economic growth, and globalisation are fixated on the status and success factors of global cities in an increasingly competitive international system of cities. As a result, many of the underlying factors that give cities their unique characteristics, socio-economic form, and spatial form are subsumed into notions of cities as “leaders” and “followers.” Sub-unit: Smart Cities Lab How can cities become and stay smart? The Smart Cities Lab under the Chen Tianqiao Programme on Urban Innovation at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities aims to answer this question by focusing on three thrusts: Smart People - How can smart cities develop smart people through work and education? Smart Tools - what tools do we need for smart government, businesses, and communities? Smart Scaling - how can smart tools scale across smart cities for greater impact? Projects The above three thrusts guide the projects that will be pursued. It is envisioned that each of the following projects pursued will fall into at least two of the above thrusts: (i) Smart Work and Education Helping people thrive better even as technology disrupts economy and society. (ii) Smart and Scalable Exploring how cities and companies can scale their innovative solutions (e.g. smart tools) from pilot phase to other cities. (iii) Community Engagement Exploring how digital tools can expand engagement, specifically how they can be used increase the number and representation of people engaged and the ways they are engaged. (iv) Enabling Social Resilience 2.0 Harnessing the Spirit in Policy Making to Complement the Building of Systems for Smart Cities – exploring how human-centric design considerations to enhance social resilience could be embedded into future Smart City policy making. The Future of Cities (funded by National Research Foundation) A project of seven studies examining the challenges facing Singapore in 25 years: (i) Future Economy A broad-based effort analysing the sources of robustness for a diverse and vibrant economy for Singapore’s future, and the trade-offs that will accompany any form of economic transformation. The study examines how the economic role of the state can evolve to manage new economic uncertainties. (ii) Future Society – Imagining the New Diversity (funded by The National Population and Talent Division) An assessment of evolving trajectories of Singapore’s CMIO multiracial, multilingual, multicultural model, and a look beyond to other possible socio-cultural cleavages which may emerge. (iii) Data Economy A study of how the data economy is evolving and the challenges that such a development will raise for society. The research will also address legal, institutional, and societal concerns that constitute the new economic frontier. (iv) Future Transportation A study on the future of urban passenger mobility and freight transportation in Singapore, including an integrated vision for the transport, community and work. (v) Future Urban Typologies for Enhancing Liveability in Singapore Future Urban Typologies for Enhancing Liveability explores innovative urban design and architecture forms and prototypes for future living in Singapore and beyond. (vi) Sustainable Futures This two-year project sheds light on securing a sustainable future in Singapore by focusing on sustainable daily living in the next 25 years. This project adopts an interdisciplinary approach in addressing these issues through collaboration between experts in urban planning, social science, building science, and material science. (vii) Living with Technology This project studies the impact of technology on the future of work, education and healthcare. Powerful, pervasive and personal technologies have transformed urban innovation. We now digitally connect and interact in new ways within the city, across cities, and with the world. Cities now transcend the physical. That is why we focus on work, education, and healthcare. Each is a social institution where many of our interactions and connections are forged. They also build the human capabilities that enable people to live flourishing lives. They shape so much of who we are and what we do in cities. Moreover, advanced digital technologies are raising pressing questions about the future of work, education and healthcare. Will jobs be created or destroyed? Will education and healthcare be disrupted? Will there be new digital divides? These questions need answers. How we answer them determines the future of our citizens and cities. In addition, the Centre has completed two research projects: Asian Port Cities (funded by Singapore Maritime Institute) A comparative study of Asia’s busiest port cities, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Tokyo, Jakarta, Tanjong Pelapas that will give a more complete understanding of their broad interlinking structures, governance, networks and technological innovations. Dense + Green (funded by Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities) A project exploring the integration of green spaces in buildings that could potentially lead to entirely new building typologies for future cities, especially for high density ones like Singapore. SUTD-JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation Centre The LKYCIC hosts the collaboration between JTC Corporation (JTC) and SUTD, led by the LKYCIC, to carry out research, development and demonstration projects to support Singapore’s industrial landscape. About the Chairman The LKYCIC is chaired by Professor Chan Heng Chee. She is currently Ambassador-at-Large with the Singapore Foreign Ministry, a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, a Member of the Constitutional Commission 2016, Deputy Chairman of the Social Science Research Council, and Chairman of the National Arts Council. Professor Chan is a trustee of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and sits on the Yale-NUS Governing Board. Professor Chan is a Trustee of the Asia Society and a member of the Board of Lowy Institute for International Policy. She is on the International Advisory Group of the MIT Centre for Advanced Urbanism and the International Advisory Panel of AXA Group, GIE AXA, Paris (France). Professor Chan was Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States and Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations with concurrent accreditation as High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico. .