Engaging Curious Minds

Since 2015, Young Urbanists has been partnering with high profile Singaporean schools and institutions, delivering thought provoking programs to over two thousand young people (and a fair few adults too).

Our Programs

Urban Storytelling

Young Urbanists gives regular tours at the Singapore City Gallery, explaining Singapore’s geographic location and constraints, historic development and 21st Century planning objectives.

Two Model Tours at the Singapore City Gallery

  • A City and A Country
  • Singapore – Change Over Time
  • City Growth and Transportation Technology
  • Singapore – A City in a Garden

Walking Tours

  • Public Spaces – 5 Local Examples
  • Greater Chinatown Tour
  • New City / Old City Tour (for the 2016 World Cities Summit)

In addition the the tours listed above, topics covered also include: smart cities, housing, heritage and preservation, waste and water management, solutions to land constraints, comparisons with other global cities, and the historic and future development of Singapore’s Central Activity Area and Marina Bay.

Urban Design Crash Course

Developed in conjunction with Singapore’s Ministry of Education, our Urban Design Crash Course has been a hit at the URA’s Urban Planning Festivals since 2017. The course modules include:

Urban Design Toolkit

Topics include people centred design, urban form, pedestrian networks, transport connections, streets, city greening, night lighting and pop-up urbanism

Urban Geography Investigations

  • Site Analysis (behaviour, history & geography)
  • Gehl Institute’s Public Life Tools

Design Thinking Workshops

  • Tanjong Pagar City Room: Space Activation (2018)
  • Kreta Ayer: Creating Vibrant Public Spaces (2017)

Global Cities Talk

In 2017, as part of Tanglin Trust School’s inaugural International Day, Young Urbanists gave a talk to GCSE and A Level students titled ‘Global Cities for Global Citizens’, about the growth of cities, city networks, innovation, and the students own place within this system of development.

Design Crits & Jury Panels

Since 2015, Young Urbanists has regularly participated in design crits and jury panels. These include:

  • Tanglin Trust School’s ‘Eco-City Challenge’
  • URA’s Urban Planning Festival
  • URA’s Cube Workshop

Teacher & Facilitator Training

Teacher Training Seminar

In 2018, the Urban Redevelopment Authority invited Young Urbanists to share our teaching and learning experiences from programs such as the Urban Design Crash Course, Island Wide Models and Chinatown Tours with Singaporean Ministry of Education managers and pre-university geography teachers.

This program provided educators the opportunity to engage with the planning authorities, extending the real-world applicability of their classroom knowledge, as well as sharing with them alternative avenues for student engagement.

2019 saw Singaporean schools experimenting with Young Urbanists’ programs, including 150 students taking part in Field Study Workshops in the  Tanjong Pagar area.

Training for Urban Facilitators

Young Urbanists trains Junior College and Polytechnic students to become Urban Storytellers. These students have been integral to the success of the Urban Design Crash Courses, enabling us to share these programs with large groups of students.

The Handbook

The Young Urbanists Handbook is designed as a companion to this work, providing meaningful material to extend the conversation about cities and urbanism. Click here to explore The Handbook.