SMU launches Urban Institute focused on the study of Asian cities

• Main Author: Singapore Management University
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Singapore Management University; Urban Institute; urbanization; Asia; Asian Studies; Higher Education; Urban Studies and Planning
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/oh_pressrelease/234; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/oh_pressrelease/article/1234/viewcontent/20240117_PR_Launch_of_SMU_Urban_Institute.pdf; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/oh_pressrelease/article/1234/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Annex_2A_SMU_Urban_Institute_SimAnn_Opening_Remarks.pdf; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/oh_pressrelease/article/1234/filename/1/type/additional/viewcontent/ANNEXE_2C_Speech_Orlando_Woods.pdf

As Asian cities urbanise at an unprecedented rate, urban policy-makers face the increasingly complex and pressing challenge of balancing urban growth with resilience and sustainability. With migration and the rapid flow of ideas online, old and new city-making practices have become uncomfortably entwined, resulting in contestation for space, resources, and municipal services. In response to megatrends that underscore the critical need to prioritise urban research, Singapore Management University (SMU) today launched the SMU Urban Institute (UI), a new research institute dedicated to multi- and inter-disciplinary research on cities in Asia. SMU UI will look beyond the development of infrastructure, and consider as well the socio-cultural aspects of urbanisation, and the balance between urban growth and sustainability.