Thinking, Talking, Exploring Cities
Engaging Curious Minds
Founded in 2015, Young Urbanists is a Singapore based non-for-profit social enterprise.
Young Urbanists collaborates with schools, institutions and local government to develop compelling educational content, enabling young people to make sense of the cities around them.
Young Urbanists supports young people to:
- explore the history, design and function of their cities;
- think critically about cities and city development;
- understand the role cities play in contemporary issues such as globalisation, urbanisation and climate change, adopting ‘joined up thinking’ to find solutions to these challenges;
- be creatively empowered though engagement in the design process, solving real world problems through design thinking; and
- participate in civic life, becoming active members of society.
Young Urbanists
Our Vision, Our Values
Young Urbanists seeks to prepare young people for a future we cannot grasp.
Young Urbanists responds positively to the challenges of our time, advocating sustainable solutions for cities to issues of rapid urbanisation, globalisation and climate change.
Young Urbanists promotes creativity, enterprise, civil society and active, multi-generational communities.
Young Urbanists champions social inclusion and increasing community connections.
Our Programs
Thinking, Talking, Exploring Cities
In the past three years, Young Urbanists has partnered with schools and institutions, to deliver thought provoking programs, to over two thousand young people (and a fair few adults too).
Young Urbanists programs involve participants from:
- junior and secondary schools (from both local and international schools);
- universities (Singaporean as well as those visiting from abroad);
- Singapore’s National Service; and
- visiting mayors & VIPs.
Young Urbanists programs include:
Urban Storytelling
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
(We’ve also covered 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.)
Walking Tours:
- New City / Old City
- Public Spaces – 5 Local Examples
Urban Design Crash Courses:
Topics include people centred design, urban form, pedestrian networks, transport connections, streets, city greening, night lighting and pop-up urbanism.
Design Thinking Workshops:
- Tanjong Pagar City Room: Space Activation
- Kreta Ayer: Creating Vibrant Public Spaces
Urban Geography Investigations:
- Site Analysis (behaviour, history & geography)
- Gehl Institute Public Life Tools
Talks:
- Global Cities
- Teacher Training for Design Thinking Workshops
Jury Panels
The Young Urbanists Handbook is designed as a companion to this work, providing meaningful material to extend the conversation about cities and urbanism.
Young UrbanistsTM, Thinking, Talking, Exploring CitiesTM, A Young Urbanists HandbookTM and Ten City SolutionsTM are trademarks of Katherine Murray.