Event Details

People desire certain things in their city. And different people want different things. If a city is not considered a ‘good place to live’, then people will prefer to leave, or live unhappily. City planners love to provide spaces and infrastructures that satisfy all the needs and desires of urban dwellers but…how can they find out what those are? There are thousands of factors. Typically, people don’t know what really satisfies them - what’s really ‘important’ to them - without deep reflection. This intrinsically tacit nature of ‘personal knowledge’ makes it very challenging for city planners to capture – certainly not in questionnaires or surveys, which tend to elicit surface responses.

A different approach is to note that people spend time together in naturally forming groups, and the shared values of those groups can be considered rich manifestations of ‘what is important’ to the people in a city. This lecture will introduce how those shared values can be ‘crystallized’ into tangible, explicit statements with some facilitation assistance. Examples of results for Vienna, Shanghai, and Southampton will be presented for illustration, and possibly some peek previews of results from Singapore. Brief examples of how these ‘group values portraits’ can be used in policy development for health interventions, infrastructure investment, and climate change adaptation, will be given.

Registration closes on 14 April 2025.

Terms & Conditions

1. The information you provide in the registration form will be used and processed by or on behalf of NUS for purposes related to your registration for the NUS Cities Lecture Series. 
2. We will collect and use the personal data that you have supplied to facilitate the processing of your registration. 
3. Personal information such as email address will be used and stored to contact you on future events organised by NUS Cities and for other similar publicity purpose. The personal data held by NUS relating to the applicants will be kept strictly confidential.
4. By registering for the lecture, you are deemed to have given your consent and agreed to your data being used and stored in conjunction with your registration. 
5. You also have the option to withdraw your consent anytime. If you wish to amend your personal data kept by NUS or withdraw your consent, please contact nuscities@nus.edu.sg. 
6. All photos taken during the event will also be used for internal and external publicity purposes deemed appropriate by NUS.
7. Seats for the lecture is limited. Registration does not guarantee a seat, and the forum organizers reserve the right to limit attendance.