Inside the Mind of

Lily Kong

Lily Kong is Singapore Management University’s fifth President and the first Singaporean woman to head a university in Singapore. Professor Kong is internationally known for her research on urban transformations in Asian cities, with particular focus on social and cultural change. She has written extensively about communal relations, particularly, the intersection of religion and secularity in cities, creative industries/cities, urban heritage conservation, and smart cities. She is an award-winning researcher and teacher locally and internationally. Professor Kong was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2006 and the Public Service Star in 2020. In July 2022, she was appointed Chair of the newly formed ‘Knowledge Council on Urban Resilience’ at the World Cities Summit.


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  • Sustainable Living

To understand how a city works, we must thus understand the behaviour of its inhabitants and the nature of their interactions, giving attention to how collective behaviour is manifested and changes over time

Lily Kong, Beyond Buildings: Why the cities of tomorrow should be people-centric