Design is everywhere. It reflects our spirit of tackling challenges creatively, whether in securing high-grade water, or in shaping products that make everyday life just a bit easier and more delightful, or in helping those who need care.

Urban design complements our land use planning efforts. It shapes our city at every scale – fostering an environment that is not just functional but also a home that supports connection, comfort, and a sense of belonging.

Design thinking guides how we solve with empathy, while visual and experiential design stir the senses and move the spirit. From immersive wildlife encounters to bold ideas at Mandai X, design connects people to purpose, helping them fall in love with the natural world, and act to protect it.

The reimagination of Singapore as a global city with the world as its hinterland was more than two decades ahead of its time. This re-vision of Singapore’s place in the global economy is foundational to today’s Singapore.

The most courageous – and creative – thing is the derring-do of our home-grown bookstore owners. These home-grown bookstores are a vital part of Singapore's urban texture – they are the guardians of our stories, memories and multi-racial togetherness.

In the next 60 years, I hope we'll rediscover the value of using our hands – where traditional crafts are still honoured and practiced, not “for nostalgia’s sake” but because it satiates an innate need to slow things down, take our time to learn to make something tangible, and to make it well.

60 years from now, we would have a Singapore where the right brain is as valued as the left; where creativity, empathy, and intuition are seen as essential strengths, and not as complimentary soft skills. We would be as comfortable navigating the fuzzy, the grey, and the abstract as we are with hard data and tangible metrics. We would no longer measure success only by what can be counted, but also by what can be felt, understood, and imagined.

Our nation’s improbable beginning has instilled in us a unique psyche where imagination meets hyper-pragmatism. Growing up at the confluence of East and West – tradition and progress – offers a unique perspective that gives us both adaptability and originality.

For Singaporean architects, design isn’t just a profession – it’s a way of life. As creative, critical thinkers, we’re trained to respond to complexity with clarity and to turn constraints into possibilities. On the global stage, this strength positions us not just to participate, but to lead, inspire, and meaningfully shape the future.

Back then, the boldest ideas were around policy and infrastructure. Today, they centre around emotional, cultural, or systemic issues – but the spirit is still the same. In the next 60 years, Singapore would have designed not just buildings, but a sense of belonging. We'll stop importing models and start trusting our own voice. We'll design on our own terms, not someone else's playbook. Singapore design will become less about impressing the world, and more about expressing who we are. We won't just be known for being clean. We'll be known for being alive.

Design matters because everything we do is to make people’s lives enjoyable, healthy, and worth living! As a city designer, when I put pen to paper, I am conscious that I am also designing for a generation that’s not even born yet. This makes design all the more important, because it needs to be adaptable yet guided by a clear intent on how our future generations will live – especially in this climate emergency world.

Brand Singapore is strong, it encapsulates a palpable sense of quality, integrity, and rigour! And in the next 60 years, Singapore would become a working prototype for sustainable green metropolitan living, solving core issues of global technological, climatic, and socio-economic change that humanity faces.

Singapore works behind the scenes for our food security and food safety. Not only have we designed a diversification strategy by having multiple food supply sources alongside a regionalisation arrangement with selected countries, we were the first country to approve cultivated meat and also developed a regulatory framework for novel foods. While these are significant, it is not about being the first. It is about having the courage to push boundaries and be on the forefront of food innovation – to ensure a supply of safe food for Singapore.

In the next 60 years, I hope Singapore would have designed a device that helps us remember which old buildings once stood where we have redeveloped, since the building and rebuilding of the city seems to be a constant here. I also hope Singapore takes more risks on folks in our creative industries – you may be pleasantly surprised at the outcomes!

One of the most underrated solutions that Singapore has designed is our network of green spaces. Despite being a densely populated city, parks and gardens are always within reach and accessible to anyone. It’s a quiet and powerful way to support our physical and mental well-being and a thoughtful and inclusive commitment to public health.

If I could open my own school in Singapore, students will practise resourcefulness, not as reaction, but as a creative orientation. It would be less about what is taught and more about how we pay attention: to the mundane, the messy, the momentary. Not to control chaos, but to work alongside it, with care, reflection, and a readiness to unlearn.

As we celebrate 10 years of Enabling Village this year, we honour the past not through grand gestures, but through quiet determination, collective effort, and a vision for a more inclusive and caring Singapore in the future. The impact of Enabling Village lives on in every small step, thoughtful innovation, and meaningful connection. Singapore must be continually shaped by those who believe in a society where everyone belongs.

Singapore's multiethnic culture is our greatest untapped creative resource. We would benefit so much if we venture more into creative realms beyond what we are familiar with. Boldly. Fearlessly. And lovingly.

My Singaporean upbringing has influenced how I navigate cultural intersections. It has taught me to work tenaciously and passionately wherever I am based, without losing authenticity. Our multicultural society and international outlook have shaped me to have a hunger to understand cultures around the world. Bridging cultures thoughtfully, respecting differences, and living together harmoniously is increasingly valuable in today's interconnected design world.

If I were to open my own school in Singapore, it would be a school of small revolutions for pre-school or early primary school-going children that instils curiosity, kindness, bravery, and connectedness. They would be nurtured to listen to and debate each other, be explorers not just of terrain but of emotional landscapes and social histories. And through this, learn to speak up for each other. And I would hope for them to be gentle agitators of the status quo. They’d tackle big questions through small, everyday experiences, ponder what fairness means, and imagine what an insect might say while drinking from a raindrop.

Living in a highly regulated environment, we are not natural-born creatives. But Singapore is a very open economy – and there's stiff competition – so we are driven to be creative out of the need to survive.

Singapore design is optimistic, idealistic, and pragmatic. We care and we always seek to enable both the hardware and heartware in the design of our environment!

For Singapore’s 60th birthday, we can celebrate the Andrew Gn retrospective at the Peabody Essex Museum (USA) – the first for a Singaporean designer abroad, in partnership with the Asian Civilisations Museum. Looking ahead, I hope for a dynamic Design Museum to document our design history, and spark people to think, interact, and dream bigger. As co-Secretariat for the Design Collection led by the National Heritage Board now, I’m excited we’re laying the foundation for future generations.

Being Singaporean is actually a creative advantage. Every Singaporean grows up in a big melting pot of cultures, and those colourful backgrounds sharpen our thinking, storytelling, and our ideas. They make our work globally resonant and relatable. There may be a well-known stereotype that we’re too scared of taking risks, but I don’t buy that.

Singapore is a young nation with no established design history, industry, style, or identity to reference and work with. But at the same time, because we don't have a lot of cultural baggage to carry, we are open and free to create and adopt new ideas and designs to tackle problems from a fresh perspective and shape our own identity.

The boldest thing I’ve seen and experienced in Singapore is the deeply ingrained culture of collaboration that defines the Singapore spirit.  Foreign delegates are often surprised – and even envious – when they learn how planning and design professionals across various public agencies and private organisations work so closely to embed greenery into the urban environment. While such collaboration may sound straightforward in theory, many cities struggle to achieve this level of co-operation and integration. This seamless, cross-boundary “teamwork” is what sets Singapore apart as a hub for creative solutions.

Design is the quiet force that transforms infrastructure into meaningful experiences. At Changi Airport, we design with empathy by understanding the way people move, what they need, and how we can make their journey seamless. Behind the scenes, it shapes smarter, more adaptive workplaces. As the first touchpoint with Singapore for many, we strive to balance human delight with operational excellence. For us, it is a reflection of how passengers experience our airport and a commitment to continuously reimagine what’s possible.

As a highly efficient society, we are programmed to be extremely goal-oriented and process-homogenous. At times, our lives can be encapsulated into various “templates”. However, as technology advances, being inclusive, comfortably unique, and constantly learning will become the new “template”. In the next 60 years, I believe Singapore would have designed the first work process that truly honours creativity at its finest. This new “template” will be our invaluable contribution to the new world.

The school I envision would move beyond pedagogy and andragogy towards heutagogy – fostering self-motivated, self-directed learners. Here, education would not be a race towards narrow definitions of success, but a journey driven by intrinsic curiosity and purpose. Learners would be encouraged to trust their own motivation, to imagine boldly, to cultivate courage amid uncertainty, and to develop the resilience needed to navigate the odyssey of life.

In the next 60 years, I hope Singapore would have designed a solution that allows us to convert our own kinetic energy into electrical power. For example, what if we could charge a power bank just by walking, jogging, or cycling – wouldn’t that be wonderful? We could still enjoy our love for food as a nation while using our well-designed network of park connectors to burn off the calories and generate power!

Growing up in Singapore’s multicultural environment, I naturally developed a sensitivity to designing for diverse audiences. Seeing everything in English, Malay, Tamil, and Chinese made localisation second nature, which has been a huge asset when working on global products. At the same time, I wasn’t raised to tell stories or speak up. I focused on craft and skills, but quickly realised that good design doesn’t sell itself. I had to learn to communicate clearly, share my thoughts, and ask why. That shift – from quiet execution to confident storytelling, has been one of the most important parts of my growth as a designer.

Singapore is a city that anticipates rather than reacts – a place where technology, design, and policy are seamlessly integrated. We will not only build a smart city, but a wise one, where liveability and efficiency co-exist, and every design decision – from urban planning to digital infrastructure – reflects care, foresight, and long-term thinking.

Being Singaporean means not being this or that, but often being this and that. We hold contradictions – East and West, deeply local yet unexpectedly cosmopolitan. That can be confusing, but it also gives us range. We know how to adapt, how to listen, how to move between worlds. The challenge is often self-belief. But when we trust our voice, we realise it’s unlike anyone else’s.

Singapore could do more to nurture a stronger culture of design. There’s still a tendency to play it safe here and not approach the design path, but if we encourage more risk-taking and make room for creative voices to lead, I think we’d see a more vibrant and human side of Singapore emerge – one that’s just as thoughtful as it is forward-looking. Starting my own lamp company at the age of 19 with no funding took a lot of courage, but it has shown me that creativity can thrive in Singapore with passion and the support of strangers who believe in your vision.

Imagine how a young nation like ours maintains a seat on global platforms. We've re-appropriated the term "Little Red Dot" with pride by overcoming the odds. I hope we’ll continue investing in homegrown talent, ideas, and projects that represent the very best of Singapore's pragmatic idealism – they’re not mutually exclusive!

We come from a generation that faces challenges head-on. And we will continue to design for an uncertain future, creating an island that is resilient and adaptable to the challenges of climate change and urban growth. In the next 60 years, Singapore will be a leader in the concept of a liveable three-dimensional city where man and nature co-exist in harmony.

In the next 60 years, Singapore will have designed a city that not only continues to defy constraints but also shines as a lighthouse for others, and is as lovable as it is liveable to Singaporeans and all who call this "little red dot" home.

In the next 60 years, Singapore would have designed a radically inclusive way of living – from multi-generational housing to universally accessible public spaces and technologies that empower all abilities, proving that even a small nation like us can create an outsized impact.

In the next 60 years, Singapore would be able to make tangible some key intangible human values such as love, joy, and friendliness in the way it assesses value that’s more than just about financial or built capital. That way, we might build a city that’s truly resilient and adaptable.

Design bridges intention and impact in philanthropy – transforming services into meaningful experiences, and infusing empathy, beauty, and humanity into our work in healthcare. Woven into programmes and spaces, it can nurture the human spirit and invite joy. When we design for kindness, we acknowledge the struggles of patients and create moments of comfort, connection, and dignity when they matter most.

Design matters simply because it shapes the way we live and interact with the world around us. When design loses sight of its purpose, it often results in a waste of materials, energy, and resources, which contributes to unsustainable living. Thoughtful design balances function with restraint, offering solutions that serve people without burdening the planet.

The most courageous thing I see is my fellow local designers sticking to their guns. It is so much easier to copy global trends or play it safe – but to start a brand that is unapologetically Singaporean? That takes real guts. Seeing someone pour their heart into a design that speaks to our unique identity – in spite of the odds – that, to me, is a true act of creative defiance.

Climate-resilient solutions that are creatively designed with the community in mind are a win for both people and the planet. For example, the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, as part of the Public Utilities Board's ABC Waters Programme, was transformed from a concrete canal to a vibrant community space that also helps manage rainwater and prevents flooding. Design can change the way we relate and react to critical climate solutions, some potentially less or more popular than others. We need designs that can power the future.

In a culture that strongly upholds hierarchy and harmony, self-expression can feel like an act of rebellion. Yet when someone breaks through, it isn’t just talent – it’s years of resilience. Some of the most inspiring work comes from those who feel there’s no other choice but to rise. That’s what makes the creative spirit here so compelling.

Being an educator is a vocation that allows us to touch the future. Let’s develop in our students lifelong skills: connecting the dots to create what they find purposeful for a meaningful future, and instilling the moral courage to build from many perspectives for Singapore. Let’s help them design the next spaceship together, the best homes to live in, and the hope for tomorrow!

We’ve grown from being consumers of culture to active contributors. It’s especially visible in the new wave of talent – creatives who are not afraid to blur the lines between disciplines and to dream bigger. The scene feels open, energised, and full of momentum.

The boldest creative act is pursuing what truly matters to yourself – whether that's becoming a stay-home mum, joining a nonprofit, opening a hawker stall, or finally becoming an artist. In Singapore's achievement-focused society, this requires both creativity and courage: the vision to imagine a different life and the bravery to choose meaning over conventional success.

Design is how we make our values visible. It’s not just about creating beautiful spaces – it’s about expressing what we stand for through choices: in material, form, rhythm, and experience. At Banyan Group, design becomes the quiet host – shaping how people feel, connect, and remember. We’ve been exploring how seasonal shifts – the subtle changes in light, temperature, and atmosphere – can guide a more attuned design language. Meaningful design is responsive. It listens, and helps us root values like balance, care, and connection into the physical world – so people don’t just read them, they feel them.

Are Singaporeans creative? Absolutely. Though we may not always see it in ourselves, creativity isn’t just about what or how we make, but what we make happen. This spirit of intentionality runs deep in our DNA. Born from necessity, fuelled by progress and progressiveness, and shaped by the resilience to adapt through change, adversity, and uncertainty.

Singapore has positioned itself as one of the design epicentres of the East, championing design not merely as a profession, but as a mindset. In the next 60 years, I believe Singapore will fully embrace design as both a tool for innovation and as a way of life – for people of all ages.

Singapore’s public transport system is already in a good place – efficient, accessible, and ever evolving. Being a part of its progress has been incredibly fulfilling. We’re committed to keeping standards high and making thoughtful improvements – especially for seniors and those who need a little extra support. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, and even more excited about where we’re headed next.

To most people, the idea of having dinner at the airport is almost unfathomable, but this is not uncommon to Singaporeans! I'm truly proud of how Singapore has turned Changi Airport into a hospitality space and world-class destination, and I am excited to be working on the next phase of the airport expansion project. Being Singaporean in a global creative scene means straddling between making things happen, yet still remaining spontaneous and open to creative possibilities.

Play is a crucial aspect of creativity that emerges only when there is no fear of failure. As a nation, we need to learn to sit with the discomfort of failure and to appreciate the value of the process. Only then can designers (or creatives of any discipline) truly learn how to play.

At DBS, design is deeply woven into our ways of working and our cultural fabric. Design enables us to act with purpose, offer amazing solutions and experiences that make a lasting difference, and create an impact beyond banking.

Can we imagine a Singapore with four Manhattans, each a vibrant precinct with its own unique character? Four Manhattans would only occupy about 32% of Singapore’s land area. Not forgetting that Manhattan includes the large and beautiful Central Park and plenty of other green spaces too. So this wild idea is physically achievable. Think about the possibilities for re-designing how we live, learn, play, and work if Singapore has four Manhattans!

In the next 60 years, Singapore would have designed a version of itself that dares to be soft, strange, and deeply human – with neighbourhoods and public spaces that are as emotionally generous as they are precise. In a world of sameness, good design becomes a form of quiet resistance that invites us to feel, linger, and belong.

In the next 60 years, Singapore would have designed the education system to be learning hub communities that transcend individual schools – where our children and youth can play, learn, and develop their whole selves alongside friends across schools, age groups, and diverse communities, both in and outside Singapore. As they develop their character and identities, they will also shape Singapore's own. As they grow and mature, they would have abundant opportunities to participate in more learning hub communities fluidly, creatively and confidently. This dynamic and seamless way of learning, creating, living, and value-adding would be a hallmark of Singaporeans everywhere.

Singapore hasn’t always been a place that rewards originality or critical thought, so the fact that we have any trailblazers or boundary-pushing creatives at all who have dared to be different is something I consider a miracle. I believe that is testament to our inherent and unshakeable creativity.

Some might look to art and design for “creativity”, searching for the avant-garde and ground-breaking. I think that is a narrow perspective – creativity is found in the everyday life of Singapore, from the way coffee is packed for takeaways or how plastic chairs are designed to be stackable in coffeeshops, to the ingenuity of a homemade irrigation systems for plants in a flat. Such creativity is often invisible, but it is there.

There’s a curiosity about this island nation that is small yet adventurous. We took on the first, the greatest, the tallest, and the best in construction technologies, public housing, and transport in bold yet carefully considered ways – from the experimental use of giant, air-filled ETFE umbrellas to transform Clarke Quay into a climatically controlled street, to redefining the airport arrival experience with Jewel Changi Airport. We've made people notice Singapore's designs!

Let's invite a bit more delightful messiness into our city, and allow those layered, organic textures to emerge by letting places evolve with their communities. It’s the cracks, corners, and contrasts that give a place – and its people – character. A city that allows for serendipity, improvisation, and a bit of beautiful chaos is one where heritage and creativity truly thrive.