Tag: urban

Placemaking | Urban |

The Neighbourhood: The Challenge For Downtown KL

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....

Reflexive City | Urban |

REX Revisited: Imagining A Creative And Cultural District

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....

Changing Course
Placemaking | Urban |

Changing Course: Old Cities, New Challenges

Over the past few weeks we’ve been shining a light on the work of the Think City Institute, both in its education and advocacy roles, and its mission to create and sustain a new generation of placemaking experts. We spoke to Dr. Richard Engelhardt, an historian, archaeologist, and anthropologist who is a longtime advisor to Think City. ...

An Entirely New Approach To Heritage Conservation
Heritage | Reflexive City |

An Entirely New Approach To Heritage Conservation

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. ...

What Makes A Happy City
Placemaking | Urban |

What Makes A Happy City?

What are the key ingredients in creating a happy? Is it the buildings, the people or perhaps there’s some indefinable secret sauce or magic that creates a liveable and loveable city? In conjunction with the UN International Day of Happiness on 20th March, Think City Managing Director Hamdan Abdul Majeed spoke to BFM89.9 about his vision for the development of happiness in Malaysia’s cities, and the crucial role that a city’s inhabitants have to play in defining the future development of their urban environments. ...

Mobility | Urban |

Global Natives

Once offered as a perk, remote working is increasingly being looked at by companies as a way to boost employee wellbeing, to increase productivity and to potentially reduce costs. Which raises an interesting question for cities: if people no longer have to live where they work, what will cities have to offer to retain or attract them? The Citymaker speaks to strategist, speaker and writer Lauren Razavi, a future work specialist and experienced nomad about global natives and the future of the work from anywhere movement. ...

COVID-19 | Reflexive City |

Pandemic Pioneers: Inspiring Moments of 2020

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....

Community | Reflexive City |

The Park. Citizen Democracy In A Digital Era

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. ...

Sustainability | Urban |

The Value of Sustainable Urbanization

Around the globe, over a million people per week move into urban areas. This level of growth presents enormous challenges for governing agencies who struggle with the capacity and finance to meet the growing demand for infrastructure and services. ...

Placemaking | Urban |

Your Cities at Eye Level

How often do we fail to really see the places we call home? We often take the spaces we occupy for granted - ignoring the pothole we walk around every day, or tuning out the neighbour who forgotten folk songs every morning. ...