Booming urbanization, combined with technology’s seemingly boundless potential, is triggering predictions of smart cities as an urban techno-utopia. Marketing this vision skips straight to dessert; the mechanics of service coordination bore the public, but images…
Can Chinese residential property investors be as enthusiastic about Southeast Asia as they have about the West? And if so, what are the implications for disadvantaged urban dwellers? Progressive governments that anticipate these trends and…
Despite handwringing by political progressives about the PAP’s landslide victory in the 2015 general election, social change is inevitable – and it may even originate within Singapore’s proudest policy arena: the economy. If the knowledge…
People now have higher expectations for living standards, particularly for their children. Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley is evidence that the government is committed to building the country’s global image. However, India first must sell its…
Many in Asia have escaped poverty, but capital continues to flow disproportionately to the tiny elite. The top 1 per cent now own 50.4 per cent of global wealth; that is, 1 per cent of…
With a rising middle class and booming demand for automobiles, Asian cities can expect no relief from congestion, and this may be a deterrent for businesses. Rural areas are increasingly prepared to absorb this potential…
More than two decades after the emigration of Vietnam’s “boat people” reached its apex, a new exodus is underway. Increasing numbers of university-aged Vietnamese students are pursuing degrees abroad. Two factors can reverse this loss…
The period during which Phnom Penh embarked on its second birth has been an historic one for Asia. Unprecedented economic growth, global trade, poverty alleviation, and social transformation have reached nearly every corner of the…
The return of the haze to Singapore has brought the predictable round of complaints, analysis, hand-wringing, and soul-searching, but the problem never seems to improve. To establish a basis for actionable intervention, it is critical…
The next generation of think tank capacity should emerge not from direct government initiatives, but from the improvement of conditions that support independent thought. This includes an education system that teaches critical thinking, an intellectual…
