SUTD Singapore University of Technology & Design

How can cities build climate resilience through Nature-based Solutions, and what role do communities play in making them work?

Join us for the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) Seminar Series at SUTD. In this session, Jihye Lee, Researcher at the Future Cities Laboratory Global, Singapore-ETH Centre, explores how communities can recognise, value, and co-steward water sensitive urban infrastructure. Drawing on research across Singapore, Seoul, and Zurich, she examines what enables water sensitive communities to emerge and support the long-term success of blue-green infrastructure.

🗓️ 24 Jun 2026
🕒 1PM to 2PM
📍SUTD, Think Tank 21, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Think Tank (Building 2, Level 3 – 2.310)

🔗 Learn more and register:
https://www.sutd.edu.sg/events-listing/from-water-sensitive-urban-design-to-water-sensitive-communities-insights-from-singapore-seoul-and-zurich

As climate risks intensify, how should cities rethink their relationship with water? Not as a threat to control, but as a force to design with.

At Condensations 2026, the inaugural thought leadership event hosted by the SUTD Sustainable Futures Centre and organised by the Centre for Climate Adaptation (CCA), and Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) pillar, global leaders in water diplomacy, urban resilience, design, infrastructure finance, policy, and coastal adaptation came together to address one of the defining challenges of our time.

The panel brought together Henk Ovink, Ridzuan Ismail, Nan Chyuan Tiah, David Erdman, Sourav Majumder, Matthijs Bouw, and Laurian Farrell, offering perspectives on how cities can prepare for a future shaped by rising seas, extreme weather, and uncertainty.

A common message emerged throughout the discussion: climate adaptation is not merely an engineering challenge. It is equally a question of design, governance, finance, and community participation.

The conversation grappled with difficult but necessary questions. What do we protect? What do we adapt? What must we transform? And how can design help societies navigate these choices with intelligence, empathy, and courage for the community?

Held as part of Singapore International Water Week 2026, Condensations convened policymakers, designers, researchers, industry leaders, and communities around a shared imperative: building resilient futures in a changing climate. The discussions reinforced that meaningful adaptation requires more than technological innovation. It demands new forms of collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and scales, and a personal commitment to advancing critical planetary design.

The event was opened by Prof Khoo Peng Beng, Director of the Sustainable Futures Centre, alongside Prof Eva Maria Castro and Corinna Choong, Co-Directors of the Centre. As SUTD's Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Futures, the Centre advances leadership in sustainability and planetary design through research, education, innovation, and partnerships.

The future of our cities will not be determined by how we fight water, but by how wisely we learn to live with it.

From thought leadership and research presentations to hands-on design innovation, SUTD was proud to contribute to the conversations shaping the future of cities at World Cities Summit 2026.

At the heart of our presence was Regenerative Cities, an exhibition by SUTD and the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (LKYCIC) that explored how cities can move beyond sustainability towards regeneration. Featuring research and innovations from LKYCIC, the Architecture and Sustainable Design pillar, and the Centre for Sustainable Futures, the exhibition showcased how design, technology, policy, and ecology can come together to create positive outcomes for both people and the planet.

A highlight of the exhibition was the booth itself. Designed and built by SUTD faculty and students, it reflected our belief in learning through making, interdisciplinary collaboration, and hands-on innovation.

Beyond the exhibition, SUTD faculty, researchers, and students contributed across the Summit through keynote addresses, panel discussions, research spotlights, masterclasses, and leadership dialogues on topics ranging from AI and mobility to resilient and regenerative urban systems.

As cities grapple with increasingly complex challenges, World Cities Summit provided an important platform to exchange ideas, forge new connections, and explore how research and innovation can help shape more liveable, resilient, and regenerative urban futures.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Carlos Bañón and the FORMAS.AI team on winning 1st Prize at SuperAI Genesis 2026!

Their achievement reflects the growing potential of AI not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a creative partner in the design process. By bringing together design, technology, and entrepreneurship, FORMAS.AI is exploring new ways for people to imagine, create, and shape the spaces around them.

A powerful reminder of what can happen when design and AI are brought together with purpose. We're excited to see how FORMAS.AI continues to redefine the future of design.

#superai2026 #formasai #aec #aidesign #architecture | FORMAS.AI We did it. Our Super CEO nailed the SuperAI stage. 🏆 FORMAS.AI is the winner of the SuperAI Genesis Startup Competition 2026. Out of hundreds of applicants, our Co-Founder & CEO Yiping G. took the WEKA Stage at Marina Bay Sands, twice, and brought it home. Watching her walk out there, tell our st...