Harvey NEO | Professorial Research Fellow

Biography

Harvey’s research focuses on critical urban studies, citizen urban science and policy-making as well as nature-society interactions. Previously an Associate Professor of Geography at the National University of Singapore, he has won multiple teaching and research excellence awards and taught courses on urban development, resource geography, environmental politics and nature/society issues. Harvey is an Associate Editor, Regional Studies, Regional Science (published by the Regional Studies Association and Taylor & Francis) and Frontiers in Sustainable Cities: Cities in the Global South. He sits on the International Advisory Board of Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation Book Series (published by University of Georgia Press), Geoforum and Progress in Environmental Geography.

At the LKYCIC, Harvey leads the Cities Cluster Research on “The Future of Asian Cities”. Amongst other things, he is interested in how a citizen-centric urban science can be practised, and sustained in tandem with “big data”, and in so doing, how urban policies can be positively influenced. The future of such citizen urban science is being studied across four Southeast Asian cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila and Phnom Penh. Harvey is also developing a research programme on “urban sustainability” at the LKYCIC, focusing on the issues of nature, food and energy.

Education

• PhD, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Massachusetts, USA (2007)
• MSc, Geography, National University of Singapore (2002)
• BA (Hons), National University of Singapore

Publications

• Chng, Samuel., Neo, Harvey., Tan, Ariel. & Li, Bayi. (2023). Trends, Jobs and Skills in Sustainability. Report for National Trade Union Congress.
• Benita, Francisco., Fuentes, Luis., Guzman, Luis Angel., Martinez, Rafael., Munoz, Juan Carlos., Neo, Harvey., Rodriguez-Leiva, Sebastian., & Soza-Parra, Jaime. (2022). Comparing COVID-19 in the antipodes: Insights from pandemic containment strategies on both sides of the Pacific. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, (15),1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2022.100660
• Neo, Harvey. (2020). The Post-politics of Environmentalism in Singapore in Jobin, P (Ed.) Environmental Movement in Southeast Asia. ISEAS, Singapore.
• Neo, Harvey. (2019). Chongqing: Propelling the “Smart” Wave in Southwest China in Bris, Arturo., Cabolis, Christos., Chan, Heng Chee & Lanvin, Bruno (Eds.) Sixteen Shades of Smart: How Cities Can Shape Their Own Future. IMD International.
• Neo, Harvey. (2019). Seoul: Citizen-centric Seoul Grows from Strength to Strength in Bris, Arturo., Cabolis, Christos., Chan, Heng Chee & Lanvin, Bruno (Eds), Sixteen Shades of Smart: How Cities Can Shape Their Own Future, IMD International.
• Pow, Choon-Piew., & Neo, Harvey. (2018). Environmental Governance and Citizenship Participation in Nanjing. Habitat International.
• Neo, Harvey. & Emel, Jody. (2017). Geographies of Meat: Politics, Economy and Culture, Critical Food Studies Series. Taylor and Francis.
• Neo, Harvey. & Chua, Chengying. (2017). Beyond inclusion and exclusion: Community gardens as spaces of responsibility. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 107(3): 666-681.
• Lin, Heng Lye., Neo, Harvey., Kondepudi, Sekhar., Yew, Wen-Shen., & Sng, Judy Gek-Khim. (2017). (Eds) Sustainability Matters: Environmental Management in the Anthropocene. World Scientific, Singapore.
• Neo, Harvey. (2016). Rethinking ethical food consumption through meaningful substitution: the contradictions and challenges of vegetarianism advocacy. Geographical Journal. DOI: 10.1111/geoj.12130.
• Neo, Harvey. & Pow, Choon-Piew. (2015). The weight of small cities: Development and the rural-urban nexus in Jinghong, Southwest China. The Professional Geographer, 67(4): 555-563.
• Neo, Harvey. & Pow, Choon-Piew. (2015). Eco-cities and the promise of socio-environmental justice, in R. Bryant (Ed.) Handbook of Political Ecology, Edward Elgar, pp. 401-416.
• Neo, Harvey. & Pow, Choon-Piew. (2015). Mobilizing green urbanism and the urban sustainability fix in China. Area, 47(2): 132-140.
• Neo, Harvey. & Pow, Choon-Piew. (2013). Seeing red over green: contesting urban sustainabilities in China. Urban Studies, 50(11): 2256-2274.
• Yeo, Jun-Han., & Neo, Harvey. (2010). Monkey business: Human-animal conflicts in urban Singapore. Social and Cultural Geography, 11(7): 681-700.
• Neo, Harvey. (2010). Unravelling the post-politics of golf course provision in Singapore. Sport and Social Issues (Special issue on golf and society), 34(3): 272-287.
• Neo, Harvey. (2010). The potential of large-scale urban waste recycling: a case study of the National Recycling Programme in Singapore. Society and Natural Resources, 23(9): 872-887.