Building Urban Resilience (Routledge Research in Sustainable Planning and Development in Asia)

This is one of the first few books to discuss the Covid-19 crisis as an urban phenomenon and illustrates this through the case of Singapore and its pandemic response efforts.

The book describes the implications and impacts of the pandemic on Singapore’s urban landscape, economy, and society. It also assesses the urban interventions that have emerged in response to the pandemic. It examines the spatial implications and challenges of delineating safe distancing in various public and commercial spaces and evaluates the effectiveness of these interventions. The book also explains how Singapore’s smart city capabilities help with its Covid-19 response.

This book will be of great interest to urban planners, healthcare professionals, and policymakers across the world, particularly those who are hoping to learn from the success and limitations of Singapore’s Covid-19 responses.

J.J. Woo is Senior Lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He has previously held faculty and research positions at the Education University of Hong Kong, Nanyang Technological University, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. His research focuses on policy design, urban governance, and crisis management, with a strong focus on global cities in Asia. Dr Woo is the author of several books on economic policy and crisis response in Asia. His research has also been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals.

Debbie Loo is an architect by training with a background in professional practice, urban studies research, and teaching. She has worked on numerous built projects in Singapore, most notably Pinnacle @ Duxton, an international award-winning public residential project. She has held research roles in urban studies think-tanks, such as the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities and SUTD-MIT International Design Centre. Her research interests include ageing urbanism, urban policy, and heritage conservation.