Cities and countries around the world are focused on enhancing their living conditions through ways that go beyond the brick and mortar of urban planning. Just like in other highly-urbanised cities, life and living in Singapore is highly dependent on many other dimensions such as health, access to various services, social interactions, inter-group relations and community bonds. Social and behavioural factors will need to be incorporated when designing and implementing policies and interventions to enhance liveability.
This invaluable book, based on the proceedings at the Behavioural Sciences Institute Conference 2014, documents an exchange of ideas among practitioners, academics and public intellectuals on liveability in Singapore. The book is organized into four parts. Part I provides an overview of liveability issues. Part II examines liveability from the perspectives of health and urban planning. Part III analyses the relationships linking quality of life to social class and social services. Part IV addresses specific questions on liveability in terms of public transport, cost of living, government's public communications, role of free market values in town planning, civil society, citizen well-being and whether there is a psychological gulf between government and people.
This book will provide the reader valuable perspectives, an increased understanding of issues related to the liveability in Singapore and many potential applications to reflect on.
Sample Chapter(s)
Foreword (75 KB)
Chapter 1: Is Singapore Liveable? (116 KB)
Contents:
- Liveability Issues:
- Is Singapore Liveable? (Laurence Lien)
- Liveability Matters (David Chan)
- Panel Discussion 1 (Laurence Lien, David Chan and Jeremy Lim)
- Health, Urban Planning and Liveability:
- Health and Liveability (Jeremy Lim)
- Urban Planning and Liveability (Heng Chye Kiang)
- Panel Discussion 2 (Jeremy Lim, Heng Chye Kiang and Han Fook Kwang)
- Social Class, Social Services and Quality of Life:
- Social Class and Quality of Life (Tan Ern Ser)
- Social Services and Quality of Life (Ang Bee Lian)
- Panel Discussion 3 (Tan Ern Ser, Ang Bee Lian and Sudha Nair)
- Liveability in Singapore:
- Closing Panel Discussion (David Chan, Gerard Ee, Han Fook Kwang, Liu Thai Ker and Tommy Koh)
Readership: Academics, undergraduate and graduates students, professionals interested in the various critical social and behavioural issues on liveability in Singapore.
David Chan received his PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Michigan State University. He is Lee Kuan Yew Fellow, Professor of Psychology & Director of the Behavioural Sciences Institute at Singapore Management University (SMU). He is also Adjunct Principal Scientist at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Co-Director of the Centre for Technology and Social-Behavioural Insights which is a centre jointly established by A*STAR and SMU. He was formerly Deputy Provost of SMU and Deputy Director of the Wharton-SMU Research Centre.
Professor Chan's research includes areas in research methods and data analysis with a focus on longitudinal modeling and multilevel issues, work and organizational psychology with a focus on personnel selection and adaptation to changes, and subjective well-being. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters, authored a textbook in personnel selection and delivered several keynote speeches and papers at international conferences.
Professor Chan has received several international scholarly awards including the William Owens Scholarly Achievement Award and the Edwin Ghiselli Award for Innovative Research Design presented by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the Dissertation Research Award presented by the American Psychological Association. He is the first non-American to receive the Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award from the SIOP. In 2000, he was ranked 9th world-wide in the list of Top 100 most published researchers of the 1990's in the top journals of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. His works have been cited over 3000 times in published articles in various disciplines.
Professor Chan has served as Senior Editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Associate Editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and member on the editorial boards of several journals. He is the Advisory Editor for Oxford Bibliographies (Management), published by the Oxford University Press. He also serves as regular reviewer for over 10 journals, the National Science Foundation in United States, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and evaluation panel members for several government agencies in Singapore.
Professor Chan has worked with public and private organizations in Singapore and United States on personnel selection, national surveys and related projects. He is Consultant to the Prime Minister's Office and numerous government organizations in Singapore. He is a member of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), the Public Hygiene Council, the International Advisory Board of the Centre for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis, the Economics and Social Research Network which advises the Singapore Government on issues in economic and social sciences research, the Governing Board for the Workplace Safety and Health Institute, the International Panel of Experts for the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Board of the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises, the Research Advisory Panel for the National Population and Talent Division, the Resource Panel for the National Environment Agency, and Chairman of the International Advisory Panel to the NCPG & National Addictions Management Service. He also does volunteer work as scientific advisor to the National Volunteerism and Philanthropy Centre. He writes regularly on social issues as an invited columnist for The Straits Times and appears regularly on Channel NewsAsia current affairs television programmes. He was also the consultant to The Social Experiment, a 5-part programme series produced by Channel NewsAsia that examines social phenomena in Singapore through scientific experiments.
Together with Nobel Laureate in Economics Professor Daniel Kahneman and world-renowned psychologist Professor Ed Diener, Professor Chan served on an international committee which submitted to the United Nations a report on measures of national well-being across countries. He is an Elected Fellow of the SIOP, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology.
