Future Cities: Science, Design, and Policy for Urban Transitions Symposium & Exhibition Singapore 2025

As cities rapidly evolve under the pressures of climate change, population growth, and resource constraints, the need for a new urban paradigm has never been greater. Traditional models are no longer enough to address the interwoven social, ecological, and technological challenges of today’s urban environments. A new mode of urbanisation must urgently emerge, building on knowledge from different disciplines to envision net-zero urban futures and chart pathways for systemic change.

The Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) Global is an international research collaboration between ETH Zurich and the Singapore universities NUS, NTU, and SUTD, supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF). FCL Global aims to shape sustainable cities and settlement systems through science, by design, in place, over time. Over 150 researchers across 13 modules bring together diverse expertise in Science, Design, Engineering, and Governance to develop transdisciplinary approaches tackling the global challenges of rapid urbanisation.

“Future Cities: Science, Design, and Policy for Urban Transitions” is a symposium and exhibition to be held on 4-5 September in Singapore. As a flagship event of Singapore Urban Science Week 2025, organised in collaboration with the Centre for Liveable Cities, Future Cities demonstrates how the FCL Global programme’s settlement systems approach enables the development of tools, scenarios, and strategies able to transcend the limitations of traditional disciplines. By identifying and redesigning the drivers of complex urban systems, we can enable a transition towards positive forms of urbanisation.

The symposium highlights research that not only deepens our understanding of complex urban systems but also leads to actionable outcomes that are already informing change on the ground. Spanning scales from materials to megacities, and guided by long-term thinking, the programme showcases how knowledge is created in place, evolves over time, and transforms cities through science and by design. The symposium will open on 4 September with keynote speeches and panel discussions by international experts at the National Design Centre Auditorium. On 5 September, guests will be invited to the CREATE Campus, home to FCL Global’s Singapore hub, for in-depth research presentations.

A public exhibition at the National Design Centre Gallery accompanies the symposium. The exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of the insights and impact of FCL Global modules, demonstrating how our 13 research modules – organised into four clusters – influence design and policy across scales, in Singapore, Zurich, and our research sites worldwide. The exhibition opens on 4 September with guided tours led by FCL Global researchers. Visitors can also learn more about FCL Global’s research by exploring interactive exhibit tables and demonstrations.

Following the end of the symposium, the exhibition will transfer to the CREATE Campus Lobby and reopen to the public on 7 September, for public viewing until 4 October 2025.