Topic outline

  • Singapore: Urban Transformations

    Welcome to Urban Challenge Studio 2!
    Date/ Time: Our first session is on Thursday 12 January at 9.15
    Location: Rakentajanaukio 4 - R1, Room 160a (when in the lobby, turn right and go down the few steps to reach 160a)




    Cities globally have grown at an unprecedented pace and in unexpected forms, indicating their unpredictability due to their complexity. The UN-HABITAT has highlighted the importance of planning for a sustainable future, with most of the earth’s population now being urbanised. With humans’ inclination to revert to nature in trying to understand urban complexity, cities have been compared to living organisms. In this manner, unpacking the organism yields a set of interacting and often interlaced systems, which are inhabited by humans, flora, and fauna. The interactions occurring in these systems through diverse human activities result in flows, and manifest at different spatio-temporal scales, while being shaped and shaping these activities.

    In addressing the future of cities but also urban areas, experts engaged in urban studies, urban design, urban planning, and other disciplines of the built environment have the challenge and responsibility to project solutions that could facilitate positive global impact yet preserve cities’ unique and specific characters. This would require an understanding of historic, socio-economic, and environmental aspects along with knowledge of advanced technologies that could support in achieving the required outcomes (Kirwan and Zhiyong, 2020; Strappa et al., 2015). Also, an interdisciplinary exploration of temporal cycles, and spatial scales at which flows occur, activities operate and opportunities towards development could be tapped on (examples of corelations between local and global: climate change, food security, production, housing; examples of what is local but not global and requires attention: heritage and historic fabric, cultural landscapes).

    Terms to consider
    o   Organism: circular; linear; interconnection; evolution; transformation
    o   Systems: city centre versus parts; road network; healthcare; education; green and blue infrastructure; urban regulations; communication; services; infrastructure
    o   Flows: people; goods; services; information; water; energy; diseases; trends


    Within this framework, this studio intends to rethink how we plan, with the challenges identified at present, and the specificities within a given context. This collaborative work aims to uncover blind spots of individual disciplines (where intersections provide opportunities that are overlooked) to address urban complexity and learn from adaptation and flexibility (as in organisms) and enable resilience.

    Questions asked in this studio

    • What flows operate across which systems in cities that manage to address ‘glocal’ challenges?
    • What are the tools that support the identification of windows of opportunity across systems and flows?
    • How could interdisciplinary planning inform solutions addressing global challenges and solving local urban issues?

    Some references

    Kirwan, C., and Zhiyong, F. (2020) City as living organism. In: Kirwan, C., and Zhiyong, F. (eds) Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence. Elsevier: 25-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817024-3.00002-7

    Strappa, G., Donatella Amato, A. R., Camporeale, A. (2016) city as organism new visions for urban life. 22nd ISUF International Conference 22-26 September 2015, Rome: U+D edition.

    More information on the course will be available under Course materials.

    Our first session is on Thursday 12 January, where the course and study area introduction will be presented, Task 1, groups and teams will be provided. Happy holidays and see you then!