Im Sik Cho

CHO Im Sik (PhD) is Associate Professor, and Director of the Master of Urban Planning programme at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore. Her research addresses the challenges and opportunities that Asian cities face with accelerating social change, focusing on the social dimension of sustainable development. Her research expertise lies in urban space planning for sustainable high-density environments and design for social sustainability involving community-based, participatory approaches. Her research on HDB neighbourhoods and communities was recognised as one of the High Impact Research in NUS and its research outcome was included in the Singapore Sustainability Blueprint (SSB) 2015, launched by the Prime Minister and reflected under the chapter of ‘an active and gracious community’ and thrust of ‘vibrant spaces for the community’, as an exemplary case that empowers the community to be involved in designing, maintaining and activating public spaces. She has extensive research experience in high-density Asian cities and has established a wide network of experts and research collaborators in these cities. Her books include Re-framing Urban Space: Urban Design for Emerging Hybrid and High-Density Conditions (with Heng. C. K. and Trivic, Z.) and Community-based Urban Development: Evolving Urban Paradigms in Singapore and Seoul (with Križnik, B.).

Research Areas

• Comparative studies of Asian urbanism in high-density contexts
• Design for urban social sustainability (design and planning for ageing, social inclusion and cohesion, well-being, quality of life, community building)
• Urban space planning for sustainable high-density cities (design and planning guidelines)
• Community-centric, process-oriented design methods (participatory planning, place-making)

Academic Qualifications

• PhD, Department of Architecture, Seoul National University, Korea
• Master in Architecture, The Berlage Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Bachelor of Science, Department of Architecture, Seoul National University, Korea Employment History / Appointments (selected)
• Associate Professor (tenured), Department of Architecture, NUS (current)
• Deputy Head, Department of Architecture, NUS
• Leader of ‘Urbanism Research Cluster’, Department of Architecture, NUS
• Associate of Asia Research Institute (ARI), Asian Urbanisms Cluster, NUS (current)
• Advisory Committee, Pacific Rim Community Design Network (current)
• Technical reviewer for ‘Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge R&D Proposals’ (appointed by National Research Foundation, Singapore: 2014-2017)
• International Peer Reviewer for ‘Global Research Laboratory Research Grant Proposals’ (appointed by National Research Foundation, South Korea: 2015)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, NUS (2010-2017)

Awards / Honours (selected)

• High Impact Research in NUS, reported to NUS President
• Invited as Visiting Academic to ETH Zürich, Switzerland, for research collaboration (fully funded)
• HDB Quality Partners Award 2014 (based on the partnership between HDB and NUS for the research “Study on Impact of the Built Environment on Community Bonding”, Principal Investigator)