This course focuses on the High Quality of Life outcome of the Liveability Framework. The course introduces students to social concepts, topics, and processes within the city and their effects on not only physical infrastructure, but also the intangible effects and manifestations on social structures, the community, and individuals.

With the world rapidly urbanising, how will our cities ensure a high quality of life to make cities ‘liveable’? What is liveability and how do we envision it? This module addresses key issues such as housing, accessibility, health and ageing, conservation, and culture to analyse how social structures affect and extend within the built environment. We will explore the ways in which these structures and processes manifest within the urban context to understand how we can further develop sustainable software, hardware, and ‘heartware’ that contribute to an equitable, liveable city with a high quality of life for its citizens. 

Using the themes of Sustainable Towns and Home For All, students will delve deeper into the Quality of Life outcome of the Liveability Framework (LF) developed by the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) as it relates to HDB Towns as well as Singapore as a whole. They will get the opportunity to hear from practitioners and academics to holistically understand the social processes that underpin the concept of a high quality of life and investigate the various manners in which these ideas manifest within a city. 

View this for the course synopsis: CDE2502 Cities for All Writeup AY24/25

Cities in Nature focuses on the Sustainable Environment outcomes of the Liveability Framework. Where Liveable Cities serves as the core foundation module for students to appreciate cities as complex systems presenting a wide range of seemingly simple problems/issues but requiring integrated systems thinking to achieve a holistic outcome, Cities in Nature delves deeper into the Sustainable Environment aspect of liveability.  

Problems and issues investigated and discussed are geared towards Singapore’s vision of a City in Nature and how increasingly, many cities around the world are facing environmental crises and disasters. Sustainability is the focus here with an emphasis on the environment, something which is often neglected or rendered secondary in the backdrop of economic growth and development.  

Students will learn to appreciate how difficult it is to tackle urban issues, balancing the needs of various stakeholders while minimising the adverse impacts that development often has on the environment. It is possible to develop holistic integrated solutions that allow nature to coexist or even thrive with urban development. By introducing case studies through the USS and real-world examples, students will glean insights on how a City in Nature is made possible. 

CDE4501B is offered in Semester 2 of each academic year.

Each run of the course focuses on a topical study or thematic analysis of specific urban issues to provide greater insights and highlight current cutting-edge research and technologies in the field. Students will have the opportunity to learn, interact and collaborate with these leading professionals to stay abreast of the latest trends, practices, and challenges to remain informed and adaptable in the ever-changing environment of cities.

This coming semester AY24/25 Semester 2, Dr. Loke Wai Chiong (Adjunct Professor, NUS Cities) and Dr. Su Aw (Assistant Professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS) will be co-leading the course.

View this for the course synopsis: CDE4501B Topics in Challenges of Cities Writeup AY24/25