Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

5-2019

Abstract

In this Cities viewpoint forum, we argue that there is a need to rethink U.S./U.K.-centric approaches to the urban university in policy and practice. Gathering three critical commentaries by practitioners from within the Singaporean higher education system, the forum responds to the challenges of: (1) broadened expectation placed on higher education institutions; (2) the pressures and possibilities of global urbanization; and (3) the provocation to theorize the urban, and thus the urban university, from beyond the 'Global North'. Following an introduction detailing the history and relevance of the Singaporean case, the three viewpoints seek to illustrate the various dimensions of university urbanism in the 'Lion City'. Each address what the idea of being an urban university means, and how it is operationalized in Singapore. Key policy and conceptual insights illuminate a higher education regime negotiating the tensions between national developmentalist agendas and the opportunities opened by global urban connectivity. Significantly, and in contrast to current urban university paradigms, we find Singapore's university sector internalizing and operating with a particular technocratic urban ontology that, while partial, helps collapses the distinction between universities being 'in', 'of, or 'for' the city and opens new avenues to analyze and mobilize universities in urban(izing) society.

Keywords

Universities, Urbanization, Urban development, Global cities, Singapore

Discipline

Asian Studies | Environmental Policy | Higher Education | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Intelligent Systems and Optimization

Publication

Cities

Volume

88

First Page

252

Last Page

260

ISSN

0264-2751

Identifier

10.1016/j.cities.2018.11.006

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.11.006

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