Book launch of ‘The Data Economy’ and ‘The Future of the Economy’

LKY CIC Brown Bag Lunchtime Talk: The use of place-based knowledge from people in participatory urban planning

While participatory urban planning has become a widely accepted approach to enhance the democratic aims of community and urban development, challenges still remain. Participation can be a small-group elitist activity; there are not effective enough practices for participatory planning and the quality and utilization of the produced knowledge is problematic. In this presentation, I will ask whether digitally supported PPGIS (public participation Geographical Information Systems) tools can help address these challenges. I will reflect critically the quality of user knowledge in typical public participation process, the new possibilities PPGIS tools and datasets provide as well as the new public participation practices that digital tools embrace. Through a critical analysis of over 200 real life planning cases using PPGIS methodology, the ability of PPGIS tools to address the current challenges will be reflected. [...]

LKY CIC Brown Bag Lunchtime Talk: Vehicle quota control, transport infrastructure investment and vehicle travel: A pseudo-panel analysis in Singapore

The rapid pace of urbanization and economic prosperity have led to a dramatic increase in car population worldwide over the past few decades. The negative externalities associated with car dependency, e.g., traffic congestion, environmental pollution, oil dependence, are of increasing concern among transport researchers and policymakers. Various policy interventions have therefore been proposed in order to accommodate the fast growth of mobility needs while mitigating the negative effects of high car dependency. Examples include transport pricing, land use planning and neo-traditional neighbourhood design. Using the case of Singapore, this talk will focus on two policy interventions -- vehicle quota control and transport infrastructure investment. It will discuss their influence on travel behaviour and effectiveness in regulating individual vehicle usage. Specially, the interconnections among individual characteristics, the built environment, transport infrastructure provision, vehicle quota control, and individual mobility choices will be explored using a pseudo panel dataset created with three travel surveys and Structural Equation Modelling. [...]

LKY CIC Seminar: Peopling Cities of Technology and Big Data: Towards A Citizen Urban Science

The acceleration of data generation has led some to believe that the world can now be understood in dramatically different and productive ways. More importantly, the distinct urban bias in both the people generating the data, and the places about which (and within which) the data are produced have given rise to a new orthodoxy— “urban science”—in understanding cities. Proponents of urban science, on the back of “big data” and technological interventions, are gaining ground in shaping the study of cities and urbanization processes in recent years. What is big data, and as it propels urban science research, will it reproduce the same fatal shortcoming of past quantitative revolutions in diminishing human agency? If so, how then can citizens be meaningfully involved in urban science? Relatedly, how can researchers who lean towards qualitative approaches contribute to urban science research? Finally, how should policy makers make sense of urban science? These questions will be answered (a) via a sympathetic critique of the urban science paradigm; (b) by deliberating, through various urban-technological innovations, the potential of citizen urban s [...]

LKY CIC Brown Bag Lunchtime Talk:Beyond the Playground: Relationship between Children’s Play and The Configuration of Urban Physical Environment in Dhaka

This presentation shares findings from an innovative mixed-methods study that explores children’s (aged 7 to 14) play environments in three residential areas in Dhaka, the densest city in the world. The study examined the relationship between children’s play and the configuration of urban physical environment. Findings show that, although children’s play varies across location and socio-demographic profile, configuration of play spaces and street networks significantly influences intensity of children’s outdoor play. Results encourage us to rethink the concept of playground and recommend new ways to enhance children’s play and well being in cities. [...]