Future of urban society

Likening the urban society to a game of soccer, with many players on the field, panellists on the “The Future of Urban Society” panel agree that looking into the future, not only will there be more players, the boundaries of the field and the rules of the game will also be evolving.

The launch of the Intra-CREATE Science, Technology, Prototyping, Policy and Practice (STP3) Workshop 2019 was officiated by Dr Cheong Wei Yang, deputy CEO of the National Research Foundation on 10 June. This was followed by a panel discussion on the theme of “The Future of Urban Society” moderated by Dr Cheong.

The high-powered panel consists of Prof. Marc Angélil, Professor for Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich and instructor of the STP3 workshop; Prof. Cheryl Chung, co-director for executive education at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS); Dr Oliver Inderwildi, visiting researcher at Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES); Prof. Joseph Liow, dean of the College of Humanities at the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU); Prof. Maria-Elisabeth Michel-Beyerle, CEO of TUMCREATE (established by Technical University Munich); and Prof. Gerhard Schmitt, director of the Singapore-ETH Centre.

One of the key topics discussed is the role of education in meeting the future challenges of the urban society. Dr Cheong said that in an era of “19th century parents, 20th century teachers, and 21st century students”, education should focus on the robustness of thinking, which encompasses critical thinking, cross cultural competency, and communication skills.

Prof Marc Angélil suggested that we teach students to think instead of teaching them solutions. He said that education will be disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary at the same time. Prof Schmitt agreed that diverse expertise from an interdisciplinary team is required to tackle complex problems such as the urban heat island effect, as is evident in the external page Cooling Singapore project.

Prof Liow agreed that disciplinarity has its merits, but at the same time, cautioned, that it is a slippery slope to dogmatism. Prof Michel-Beyerle, whose work has been in the domain of physical chemistry, agreed that disciplinarity still has its place and has given rise to disruptive technology in some instances, such as the invention of the perovskite solar cells.

STP3 students also questioned if there could be a balance in policymaking, particularly when citizens have to give up certain liberties to enjoy other liberties. Touching on the topic of policy, Prof Cheryl Chung challenged the students to consider if bureaucracy is a good thing and if regulatory friction is a good thing. The panel discussion continued in diverse direction not along among panellists, but also with the students, resulting not in answers, but open questions and challenges that the students will continue to explore over the course of the workshop.

Over two weeks, 48 graduate students from ETH Zurich, MIT, Cambridge, TU Munich, NTU, NUS and SUTD will jointly explore the theme of “The Future of Urban Society” through a series of lectures, visits, discussions and design thinking workshops. The workshop will culminate in an exhibition and presentation, when student participants will present solutions and prototypes developed in response to the theme”

The STP3 workshop is a reinvention of the last three editions of the Science, Technology and Policy (STP) workshop, with design thinking as a new element, led by Professor Prof Marc Angélil. It is organised by the Singapore-ETH Centre, together with CARES, TUMCREATE, NUS, NTU, and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP).