Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities

The Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) is a research institute in the Singapore University of Technology and Design. The Centre seeks to stimulate thinking and research on the critical issues of cities and urbanisation and explore the integrated use of technology, design and policy to provide urban solutions.

News and Updates

10 Jul 2025

Media Interview on Singapore’s readiness for driverless buses (CNA938, 09.07.2025)

Research Assistant Professor Samuel Chng weighs in on Singapore’s readiness for driverless buses, as Grab rolls out an autonomous shuttle bus service at its one-north office, and ahead of AV trials in Punggol. [...]

9 Jul 2025

Staff Achievement: Dr Suhaila Zainal Shah

LKYCIC is pleased to announce that Dr Suhaila Zainal Shah's co-authored book chapter titled “Bridging Singapore’s Digital Divides: Making Our Smart Nation Smarter”, has been published in World Scientific’s latest commemorative title, Singapore Unveiled—a two-volume set launched in celebration of Singapore’s 60th year of independence. [...]

30 Jun 2025

Staff Achievement: Dr Thijs Willems

LKYCIC is pleased to announce that Dr Thijs Willems et al’s paper titled ” Learning from Deliberate Failure: A Holistic Approach Using the CDIO Framework” won the Best Paper Award at the 21st CDIO International Conference (CDIO 2025), Melbourne, Australia. [...]

30 Jun 2025

New journal papers by Thijs Willems, Qian Huang, Poon King Wang & Vinod Radha

Willems, Thijs., Hotan, Darion Jin., Tang, Jiawen Cheryl., Norhashim, Norakmal Hakim bin., Poon, King Wang., Goh, Zi An Galvyn., & Vinod, Radha. (In press). Assessing employment and labour issues implicated by using AI. In Yaghmaei, E., et al. (forthcoming 2025) Global Perspectives on AI Impact Assessment. Oxford University Press Sockalingam, Nachamma., Liu, Shu Yuan., Huang, Qian., Kaur, Ameek., & Willems, Thijs. (2025). Adaptors’ and Innovators’ Failure Tolerance and Innovative Tendencies in Design-Based Learning. Thinking Skills & Creativity, 57, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2025.101832 [...]

Featured Events and Visits

28 Jul 2025

Trending Thoughts Seminar Series “A for AI. B for Bronowski. C for Comfort (or Lack of).”

Synopsis Discussions on AI veer from comfort in its promises of abundance for all human lives, to discomfort that we will […]

11 Jul 2025

Launch Event: Building Responsible Smart Cities

As Asia experiences rapid urbanization – home to over half of the world’s megacities and projected to account for 40% […]

8 Jul 2025

LKYCIC Seminar Series: “The Creativity of AI”

This paper examines how people evaluate the creativity of AI-generated versus human-made artworks. Using commissioned works in three styles (charcoal animals, minimalist logos, and watercolor landscapes) researchers generated AI versions with Stable Diffusion. Participants rated each artwork’s creativity (0–10) and bid in auctions to assess monetary value. AI-generated landscapes were rated more creative and received higher bids. Creativity perceptions were influenced by detail, scene composition, and color use. Interestingly, visual errors did not reduce, and sometimes enhanced, creativity ratings. The study concludes that participants often preferred AI-generated art, particularly landscapes, due to their higher aesthetic appeal and creative presentation. [...]

30 Jun 2025

[PEB & SIP CPD points] Malthus Enigma: Technology, Science, and Policy for a Fragile Earth

Synopsis With stable climates and global ecosystems in peril, Malthus’ proverbial predicament is as important as ever: How do we sustain […]

Pillars of Research

Research

Lab

Master of Urban Science, Policy and Planning

Offered by the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities and the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Cluster, SUTD’s Master of Science in Urban Science, Policy and Planning is designed in the context of big data and smart city initiatives to train the next generation of urban researchers, analysts and practitioners. Students combine advanced social and data science research methods and computational techniques with urban theory, planning and practice to explore current and emerging topics and shape the cities of the future.

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