We welcome Mr William S W Lim on board as CPI columnist, starting with an inaugural titled “Let’s Get Real” on the subject of Eco-urbanism tomorrow. Presently mainly engaged as a visiting lecturer on the Asian circuit, Lim brings along a wealth of expertise and experience, especially in his field of specialisaton, i.e. architecture, and and related disciplines and subjects including urbanism and culture in Asia as well as on current issues relating to the postmodern, glocality and social justice.
William S W Lim graduated from the Architectural Association (AA) London and continued his graduate study at the Department of City and Regional Planning, Harvard University . His professional work involves architecture, planning and development economics.
Lim has also been a prolific writer, and is the author of a dozen books, including:
1) Equity and Urban Environment in the Third World — with special reference to ASEAN Countries and Singapore (1975).
2) Cities for People: reflections of a Southeast Asian Architect (1990).
3) Asian New Urbanism (1998) — translated into Japanese, entitled 21st Century — The Image of the Future Asian City .
4) Have You Been Shanghai(ed)? Culture and Urbanism in Glocalized Shanghai (2003) — The book is bilingual (English and Chinese).
5) Asian Ethical Urbanism: A Radical Postmodern Perspective (2005) — translated into Vietnamese and Chinese.
6) Contesting Singapore ’s Urban Future (2006) — The book is bilingual (English & Chinese).
7) Asian Alterity with special reference to Architecture and Urbanism through the Lens of Cultural Studies (2008).
The above publications are available from Select Books Pte Ltd, Singapore .
Email: info@selectbooks.com.sg
Website: http://www.selectbooks.com.sg
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Dear esteemed readers, here’s a peep of what to expect from Saudara Lim’s piece on Monday. Stay tuned! ~~ YL Chong, Editor, CPI
Let’s Get Real
Introduction
Eco-cities is now a fashionable brand to be proudly displayed and identified with. This feedback workshop from the various cities in the region will certainly be useful to compare the experiences and effectiveness of actions taken. On the theoretical level, I wish to share with you all the challenges in the broader context towards achieving a liveable and sustainable environment in East Asian cities. The analysis will go beyond the applications of present known knowledge and will base on the feedforward[i] approach into the unfamiliar territory of cutting-edge thinking and fundamental changes in the spirit of the post-modern which I have characterised as pluralism, rebelliousness, tolerance of differences, and the firm commitment towards vigorously investigating the present untested solutions of new knowledge broadly defined and embraced within the context of radical cultural studies.