CHEONG Koon Hean | Chair

Prof CHEONG Koon Hean is Chair of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities as well as Professor of Practice in the Singapore University of Technology and Design. She is concurrently Chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities Advisory Panel under the Ministry of National Development and Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Finland.

Prof Cheong has played an active role in the urban transformation of Singapore over the years. She was the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) from 2010 to 2020, overseeing the development and management of over 1 million public housing flats. At HDB, she introduced a new generation of public housing and implemented large scale sustainability, biophilic and smart features in HDB towns.

Prof Cheong was also the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from 2004 to 2010 and steered the urban planning and development of Singapore, contributing her extensive experience in strategic land use planning, urban design, conservation of built heritage and the real estate market. During her tenure, she uplifted planning and design standards and oversaw the development of major growth areas, notably Marina Bay the new city extension.  She was concurrently appointed the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of National Development from 2001 to 2016, overseeing urban development, public housing and real estate policies.

An active contributor to international discourse on urban issues, Prof Cheong was a former Deputy President and current Council Member of the International Federation of Housing and Planning, a former global Board trustee of the Urban Land Institute and member of the World Economic Forum’s Real Estate and Urbanisation Council. She has also served on several international expert panels advising on governance, planning and sustainability, including the master planning of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco City in China. She played a key role in conceptualising the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize and is its Nominating Committee Chairman.

She is currently a board member of CapitaLand Group, Surbana Jurong Private Limited, Rector of National University of Singapore College and senior fellow of the URA Academy. Prof Cheong is currently serving on the Urban Solutions and Sustainability Domain International Advisory Panel (National Research Foundation) and the Keppel Technology Advisory Panel (Keppel Corporation Ltd). She was formerly on the Asia Sustainable Infrastructure International Advisory Panel and was the Senior Advisor for Public Sector Sustainability in the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. Prof Cheong has served on the boards of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Housing & Development Board, Jurong Town Corporation, National Heritage Board, Jurong Port, the Civil Service College and the National University of Singapore.

A Colombo Plan scholar, Prof Cheong holds a 1st Class Honours degree and University Gold Medal in Architecture and a Doctor of Architecture honoris causa conferred by the University of Newcastle (Australia); a Master’s degree in Urban Development Planning from University College London and has completed the Advanced Management Programme in Harvard Business School. She is also the Institute of Policy Studies’  5^th S R Nathan Fellow, Fellow (Life) of the Singapore Institute of Architects and Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Planners and a Tan Swan Beng Endowed Professor in Nanyang Technological University. Prof Cheong has been conferred multiple awards, notably the Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding public service, the University of Newcastle’s Convocation Medal for Professional Excellence and the 2017 Asia-Pacific Landscape Architecture Luminary Award by the International Federation of Landscape Architects. In 2016, she became the first Asian to be conferred the conferred the international Urban Land Institute Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development as well as the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Lynn S Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award.