For the past few weeks we’ve been talking about the planned revitalisation of the downtown districts of Kuala Lumpur. There's no point bringing new life, new businesses and a sense of renewed creativity and vigour to a neighbourhood unless its residents and those that use it feels safe. ...
We last spoke to Shin Tseng, one of the co-founders of the iconic retail, arts and community hub, REXKL, late last year (November 2020). He outlined some of the challenges that this placemaking icon and its tenants had faced over the first year of the pandemic, and detailed some of the creative pivots, like an inner city farmer’s market, that the building had undergone to try to better serve the downtown community....
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been speaking about the Kuala Lumpur Creative and Cultural District and the blueprint for change it represents. We spoke to Think City’s Matt Benson about the genesis of the KLCCD as well as PNB President and Group CEO Zulqarnain Onn about the recently launched Merdeka 118 Community Grants Programme....
Last week we announced the launch of a Community Grants Programme linked to the landmark Merdeka 118 development in KL Downtown’s district. The project is the first part to launch of a wide ranging initiative that Think City is spearheading, the Kuala Lumpur Creative and Cultural District....
Over the past decade, downtown Kuala Lumpur has been a particular focus of Think City’s work in Kuala Lumpur. As Think City Programme Director Matt Benson reminded The Citymaker in a recent podcast, Building A New Creative And Cultural District for KL, it’s not only the heritage core of Kuala Lumpur, containing a wealth of cultural assets, it’s also the iconic area in which Malaysia’s independence was declared. ...
On 27th June we celebrate the UN’s Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSME) Day. According to data provided by the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), MSMEs make up over 90% of all firms and account, on average, for 70% of total employment and 50% of GDP. They are the heart of our economies and our communities, providing employment and much needed services. ...
Saturday 27th June is the UN’s Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSME) Day. Small businesses are the heart of any economy. That’s especially true in Southeast Asia, where millions of people rely on work in the informal employment, daily wage and micro enterprise sectors. ...
Downtown. Sometimes all the noise and hurry masks underlying problems that you don’t notice when you’re listening to the music of the city. Kuala Lumpur’s heritage core has hollowed out...
With Malaysia experiencing record high numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the country is entering an extended period of social and economic lockdowns aimed at curtailing and controlling the spread of the disease. As Malaysians embrace living, working and socialising from home once again, we speak to Mary Carty, a strategic consultant, and mentor is one of the founders of AwakenHub, a networking platform and resource centre for female entrepreneurs in Ireland and across the Irish diaspora. ...
This week the Reflexive City has the great pleasure of talking to a heritage conservation expert who has been instrumental in setting up the Think City Institute. A former UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture for Asia and the Pacific, thought leader Dr Richard Engelhardt has been an adviser and consultant to Think City for the last 10 years. ...
On today’s show we look at an innovative and pioneering programme from Think City, in association with Citi Foundation, designed to build healthy communities and improve the physical, mental and...
With the news that Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccination program should begin some time in March, The Reflexive City podcast looked at some of the ways that cities around the world have been working...
Apps like Clubhouse celebrate innovation and the innovators while overlooking the vast army of maintainers that allow those systems to run. Programmes like Think City’s K2K Aktif Bersama are trying to change that conversation, focus on the people and the communities we all rely on to keep the world moving. ...
This week on The Reflexive City, we look at ways to promote active and healthy lifestyles in and examine the wider phenomenon of pandemic burnout as our lives continue to be interrupted by Covid-19....
Research has shown that singing can reduce anxiety, enhance mood, improve mental health and quality of life. Building on this knowledge, Think City has partnered with Karyawan, impacted by Covid-19 themselves, and Perwacom, a local NGO, to deliver this intervention of a different kind....
This week we’re continuing the work-based theme and discuss the Malaysia Business Community Pulse Check Report, the result of a Think City Survey. An overview of the community-level effects of COVID-19 on individual Malaysian businesses in 2020, we speak to one of the report’s analysts, Joel Goh, senior manager and data specialist at Think City, about the report, its findings and its future. ...
Are we more than the sum of our stories? Amir Muhammad speaks to The Citymaker about his role as a judge and the publisher of the KISAH Futures storytelling competition, his first forays into reading science fiction and dystopian tales and why he should be on TikTok. ...
As we trade a harrowing 2020 for a hopeful 2021, we look at one of the few bright spots of the last year: the renewed sense of conversation between the...
In the second in a series of three 2021-based shows, this week we’re looking at the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination programmes and the uncertainty surrounding them and asking how we can rebuild public trust, not only in vaccines but in public institutions in general. ...
As we continue to grapple with the uncertainty of 2020, the idea of what 2021 has in store may be too exhausting to contemplate. Bleak as it may seem, there are bright spots on the horizon. ...
As we head Into the final month of this strange year, we’re changing up the format of the next few shows to bring you some of the major stories that have marked or Inspired us this year. This week, the role that new working practices have played in keeping us safe from the coronavirus in 2020, and how those same safeguards may be used against us in the future....
In the wake of the US Presidential elections, the Reflexive City looks at the growing polarisation in societies around the world. Looking at a fascinating op-ed by social entrepreneur and activist Eli Pariser, co-founder of Upworthy, Maya and Matt ask if the future of citizen democracy lies in adapting some the lessons and learnings of the public park movement and applying them to our digital spaces. ...
REXKL is an iconic downtown landmark in KL, and, in its old life as Shaw Brothers’ REX Cinema, it’s a nostalgic nod to Saturday afternoons spent watching the Hollywood blockbusters...
On this week’s episode of The Reflexive City: could boosting tourism revenue be as simple as editing a Wikipedia page? What happens when ransomware attacks turn deadly and an excerpt...