CITIES FOR PEOPLE is the pilot edition of NTU CCA Ideas Fest, taking place 13-22 January 2017, an annual platform to catalyse critical exchange of ideas and encourage thinking “out of the box”. It is a bottom-up approach linking the artistic and academic communities with grassroots initiatives. This pilot edition expands artistic interventions and engages contemporary issues such as air, water, food, environment, and social interaction, in connection to artistic and cultural fields, academic research, and design applications.

The 10-day programme, coinciding with Singapore Art Week 2017 and Art After Dark at Gillman Barracks, comprises a conglomerate of performances, public installations, participatory projects and social experiments, urban farming initiatives, public dialogues, and a variety of workshops. It cumulates in a three-day Public Summit that brings together a prominent group of architects, theorists, researchers, curators, and community groups from around the world to discuss and exchange ideas about urbanism, environment, modes of exchange, critical spatial practices, and to envision a future city. CITIES FOR PEOPLE offers a platform to contemplate the possibilities for our shared space, reformulate our demands accordingly, and project solutions and desires for the future. CITIES FOR PEOPLE, a term borrowed from Singapore architect William S. W. Lim’s 1990 book with the same title, expands on some of the ideas Lim developed, particularly in relation to tropical environments and recycling, as well as his call for a humanistic architecture. Organised on the occasion of the exhibition Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts at Critical Spatial Practice, this event is an invitation to share and engage in cooperative projects and collective experiences that critically reflect on current challenges in urban development and future habitats. PROJECTS, WORKSHOPS, EVENTS: 13 – 22 January 2017 Various locations at Gillman Barracks Free admission, registration to all events are required. PUBLIC SUMMIT: 19-21 January 2017 The Single Screen Block 43 Malan Road, Singapore 109443

Read more about the events in November which prepared the event:

At NTU CCA in Singapore, a series of events take place in November 2016 and January 2017 as part of the CITIES FOR PEOPLE NTU CCA Ideas Fest 2016/17. Two days of panel discussions November 25-26, a diverse programme of projects, workshops and activities from 13-22 January 2017 and a Summit on Cities for People takes place on 19-21 January.

Following a lecture on The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia) earlier in November, on Friday and Saturday, 25 and 26 November 2016 , three panels chaired by Asian Urban Lab, with William S. W. Lim, Roger Nelson, and Dr Etienne Turpin, will feature presentations by 17 speakers active in the fields of architecture and urban studies.