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Mega-Projects and Livable Cities
In association with the National University of Singapore, this project focuses on the impacts of urban mega-projects on the livability of cities, particularly with regard to community and public life in Pacific Asia. The age of mega-projects aimed at capturing the core of the metropolis emerged in Pacific Asia in the mid-1980s with the historical coincidence of several factors: the beginning of the bubble economy in Japan; the globalization of retail and franchise capital; the opening of Pacific Asia banking systems to global finance; and the spread of the idea of 'world cities' as a symbol of national status and economic power. By the 1990s the central areas of all major cities were experiencing massive restructuring that was principally aimed at creating favorable global linkages. Massive suburban new towns and housing estates came with the construction boom as well. Neoliberal reforms that opened nations and cities further to global transactions after the 1997 have had the effect of stimulating another new era of intercity competition through mega-projects.
The first meeting of this project was held in Singapore in December 2004 as part of the RC21 conference. Researchers from 12 countries gathered to discuss findings from case studies on the relationships between mega-projects and livable cities.
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