Louisa-May Khoo | SCARP | UBC School of Community and Regional Planning

Louisa-May

Khoo

Email: louisamayk@gmail.com; khoohl@student.ubc.ca

Bio and CV

Biography

I was an urban planner involved in public policy and research in Singapore. As Senior Assistant Director with the policy research think-tank Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), I led the housing and social research teams, focusing on issues relating to affordable housing, immigration and diversity. Having been awarded the International Doctoral Fellowship by UBC, I moved to Vancouver in Fall 2018 to extend my work with vulnerable communities.

My work sits at the intersections of planning governance and urban studies, with a broader mission to develop a human centricity in public policy. I like to think of it as developing a different AI - an anthro-intelligence in planning theory and practice that attenuates the bluntness of policies towards more empathetic sense-making. Specifically, my research explores the connections between urban transformation and mental wellness. My dissertation interrogates these connections through the perspective of the ageing experience among older adults in Singapore.

Louisa is UBC's Public Scholar and holds a BA and a MSSc in Geography, both from the National University of Singapore.

email: khoohl@student.ubc.ca; louisamayk@gmail.com

Publications

Khoo L-M (2021) 'Governing Ageing, Forging Heart-ware: A Singapore Perspective', in Mark Scott (2021), Interface: Planning for Age-Friendly Cities, Planning Theory & Practice, vol 22(Issue 3) pp 487-492.

Khoo, L-M, Chan, D and Firdaus, A. (2020) 'Towards Ageing Well: Planning a Future-Ready Singapore', Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore

Khoo, L-M (2019) “Making Trust a Planning Asset: Singapore's Community Engagement Journey” in Urban Solutions , Issue 15, High Trust Cities, Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore

Khoo, L-M and Boh, J (2018), “Engaging Well, Forging Bonds: The Community as Stakeholders in Urban Development”, Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore.

Khoo, L-M and Bunnell, T (2017) 'Producing Cohesion: Governmentality and Everyday Multiculture in Global City Singapore', paper presented at Migrants in Global Cities: Experiences from Asia, the Middle East and Europe | National University of Singapore (NUS) and Universite Sorbonne Paris Cite (USPC) | October 30, 2017

Khoo, L-M (2017) “Governing Difference: Managed multiculture and encounters at play in Singapore”. Masters Thesis. Department of Geography. National University of Singapore.

Khoo, L-M (2017), “Living with Diversity the Singapore Way” in Urban Solutions, Issue 10: Diversity, Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore.

Wu WN and Khoo, L-M, “The case for building new HDB flats in the city centre” in The Straits Times, 4 Nov 2016.

Chionh C.K and Khoo L-M (2016) “Home, Community, Identity: Singapore’s Public Housing Story” in Challenges and Reforms in Urban Governance: Insights from the Development Experience of China and Singapore , jointly published by the Ministry of National Development and the Development Research Centre of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

Kong, L., Gibson, C., Khoo, L-M., and Semple, A. L. (2006). Knowledges of the creative economy: Towards a relational geography of diffusion and adaptation in Asia. Asia pacific viewpoint, 47(2), 173-194.

Yeoh, B. S. and Khoo, L-M. (1998). Home, work and community: Skilled international migration and expatriate women in Singapore. International Migration, 36(2), 159-186.

Courses Taught Sessional Instructor, PLAN 425: Urban Planning Issues and Concepts, 2021 Winter Term 1, School of Community and Regional Planning, UBC

Scholarships and Awards

UBC Public Scholar (2021)

International Doctoral Fellowship (2018-2023), University of British Columbia

The Brahm Wiesman Memorial Scholarship in Community and Regional Planning (2020, 2021)

The Walter G. Hardwick Scholarship in Urban Studies (2020)

President's Academic Excellence Initiative (2020, 2021, 2022)

Related Work Experience

Sessional Instructor, School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia

Senior Assistant Director, Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore

Assistant Director, Strategic Planning Division, Ministry of National Development, Singapore

Executive Planner, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore

Teaching Assistantships 2019 - 2021: Training Facilitator for Graduate Teaching Assistants, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia; 2019 - 2020: Planning Issues and Concepts, School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia;

Supervisors

Heather Campbell

Maged Senbel