Greetings from NUS Cities, and welcome to the second issue of our newsletter! 

We were pleased to receive positive feedback on our inaugural issue, and we hope that this issue will continue to offer you insights and ideas on cities and their future, just as the first issue did.

In January, we were honoured to have the urban planning and real estate visionary Jonathan F. P. Rose, founder of Jonathan Rose Companies and co-founder of the Garrison Institute, to give our NUS Cities Public Lecture. If you were unable to attend, do not fret, as in this issue, we share some of the key takeaways from his lecture.

This issue, we also share some of the research by our academics, which give us reasons for optimism about the sustainable future of cities. Dr. Dai Fangzhou, a Research Fellow at NUS Cities with a PhD in Transportation Policy, elaborates on the positive impact of Singapore’s Circle Line in promoting a car lite lifestyle. Dr. Yuan Chao, Director of Research at NUS Cities and the founder and Principal Investigator of the NUS Urban Climate Design Lab, discusses the progress that has been made in using computer modelling to support scientifically-based planning and design which aims to mitigate the negative impacts of the Urban Heat Island effect.

NUS Cities aims to be an open, inclusive and collaborative platform which facilitates the exchange of ideas not just within NUS or within Singapore, but also with experts and institutions internationally. In this issue, we are pleased to share with you the insights of two of our recent Visiting Professors, the renowned landscape architect Professor Herbert Dreiseitl, who was integral to the creation of PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters Guidelines and to the 
re-design of Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, and Dr. Jonathan Reichental, former Chief Information Officer of Palo Alto, California and an expert in the application of technology to the urban context. Their interviews can be found in this issue.

Finally, our very own Deputy Director Practice Professor Fong Chun Wah writes from his experience and knowledge from HDB in elaborating on the findings of Dr. Michael McGreevy in our last issue, where Dr. McGreevy described how HDB neighbourhoods changed in their structure, from having retail distributed across the whole neighbourhood, to a more centralised model of shopping malls and integrated hubs. Professor Fong explains the rationale behind this shift in neighbourhood planning 
in Singapore.

We hope you will enjoy the diverse offerings from this issue of the NUS Cities Newsletter!