Assistant Director (Urban Futures)

CLC serves as a knowledge centre for the Infrastructure and Built Environment sector under the Ministry of National Development. Our mission is to identify and address future challenges for Singapore and other cities through our foresight capability, knowledge and capability development and strategic platforms, including the World Cities Summit. Our work on policy research draws insights from our network of experts and knowledge partners and takes an evidence-based approach to inform urban planning and policy development in Singapore. You can expect a dynamic and rewarding career at CLC, where you will help bring together city leaders and experts from around the world to create knowledge and apply these to addressing contemporary urban challenges and identifying critical opportunities. JOB SCOPE: CLC’s futures and cities-oriented knowledge work in the built environment focuses on the following policy research domains: 1. Future of Urban Liveability - How liveability can be maintained as Singapore grows, both in terms of population as well as growing older as a society, with more diverse demographics. How can planning and policies in the built environment respond to these changes? How do we measure liveability outcomes, involving complex notions of wellness, sustainability, rather than output indicators? 2. Urban resilience – How cities can be responsive to citizen’s needs through the inter-play of urban governance and collaborative systems, urban design, districts/infrastructure planning and development to maintain liveablity 3. Science of cities enablers – How cities can leverage the application of relevant approaches/methods such as urban science, foresight, indices, and social and behavioural sciences in maintaining liveability.

For the role of Assistant Director (Urban Futures), you will help to drive CLC’s knowledge work in project such as the Future of Urban Liveability, Future of…studies, etc, grouped under the broad theme of Urban Futures. The studies take on a systems-level view of the policy pathways and urban governance considerations towards how the changes to the nature of work and shifts in live-work patterns impact how districts and neighbourhoods need to be transformed, as well as the infrastructure and management that needed to be put in place to support the transformation of the city, in the light of future disruptions. You may also work on topics related to the future the urban environment, such as the quality of the dense living environment, as well as review of indicators and metrics used to quantify liveability. You will work with team supervisors and members on challenging urban systems projects, develop detailed research roadmaps, utilise our research enablers and adopt data/science-based and people-centric approaches for these projects, with the intent of translating the applied research into policy. In your work, you will also synthesise information and analyse data from local and international sources, convene thought leadership sessions and in some instances, commission research to be done by universities and research institutes. There will also be opportunities for you to be involved in other related research projects, to diversify your research portfolio and acquire new skills. As part of conducting these policy futures projects, you may also be involved in publications, work closely with policymakers, planners, local and foreign experts, and industry practitioners to drive policy discussions and develop CLC’s interests. You will also be involved in work that helps to support and maintain CLC’s strategic partnerships with our knowledge or corporate partners. You may expect to share the output from your policy-futures work at CLC’s capacity development programmes which train urban leaders from Singapore and other cities. You may also contribute to curating and participating in the biennial World Cities Summit, Science of Cities Symposium, and other platforms for knowledge sharing.

Profile and Competencies: • Possesses a futures thinking mindset and keen interest in the policies and plans that underpin and drive urban development in Singapore, and in other cities. •Possesses an inquisitive mind with good adaptive and communication abilities, interpersonal skills, management of stakeholders, and a sense of responsibility and drive for continuous self-development. •Ability to organise, visualise and analyse data and research, present concise analysis findings, and communicate clear insights and recommendations for policies and planning in Singapore and other cities. •Ability to work well independently and in a team setting. •Strong experience in project management, i.e., ability to manage timelines and steer multi-stakeholder research projects to achieve set goals. •At least 3-5 years (Assistant Director) of relevant experience in policy research, as a policy maker or practitioner involved in one or more of the following domains, namely, Urban Planning & Design, Architecture, Real Estate Development, Public Policy and Management, Sustainable Development, Urban Sociology/Economics and/or Urban Systems Design/Engineering. • Ability to understand and apply scientific principles, methodologies and tools in research projects, translating qualitative and quantitative findings into practice-oriented research, and a keen interest in emerging urban challenges and innovative approaches for futures-oriented research. •Proficiency in Planning and Development, Public Policy Analysis, Statistics, Data Visualisation, Computation, and/or Geospatial Science software, and Research Frameworks development and Data Analytics skillsets would be advantageous.