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. Specifically, my research explores the connections between urban transformation and mental wellness. My dissertation interrogates these connections with a focus on the ageing experience of older adults in Singapore.

Louisa holds a BA and a MSSc in Geography, both from the National University of Singapore.

Publications

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.

Scholarships and Awards

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

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

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

Related Work Experience

Senior Assistant Director (Adjunct), Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore (2012 - present)

Lecturer, Fujitsu-Jaims Foundation, “From Plans to Reality”, Global Leaders for Innovation and Knowledge Management Programme (Biannually in Singapore 2015-2018)

Research Assistant, National University of Singapore, Provost Office (2004-2007)

Assistant Director, Strategic Planning Division, Ministry of National Development, Singapore (2001-2003)

Executive Planner, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore (1996-2001)

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; 2003 - 2004: Changing Landscapes of Singapore, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

Supervisors

Heather Campbell

Maged Senbel