Of Rhythms and Routines: The Making of Place, Identity and Community

About the Talk

Cities shape the rhythms and routines of our everyday lives. And yet, the ambient character and affective quality of cities are reshaped by our habitual urban practices. Placing an ethnographic lens on the microgeography of Lembu Square in Little India, Singapore, this talk sheds light on the temporal rhythms and spatial routines that manifest in urban streets and public spaces after dark. Through photographic visuals and field narratives, this talk presents an alternate perspective on ‘the night’ by bringing together the humanistic and transglobal themes of place, identity and community. This talk would appeal to anyone engaged in urban studies, visual media and community-building interventions.

About the Speaker

Su-Jan Yeo is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at the University of British Columbia. She recently joined SCARP following her PhD in Architecture from the National University of Singapore. As an urban specialist with professional planning experience in Canada and Singapore, Su-Jan’s research is positioned at the intersections of culture & society, built environment and urban policy.

About SCARP

Founded in 1951, the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) is one of the first dedicated
planning schools in Canada, and the first planning school in North America focused on sustainability
through its mission statement. SCARP is one of the largest graduate planning programs in Canada with
11 full-time faculty and 100 students. It maintains active local and global research programs in the
environmental, economic, and social dimensions of city and regional planning, with strong research links
in the Pacific Rim, and internationally. SCARP (www.scarp.ubc.ca) is a fully accredited (Canada and USA) graduate planning program within the UBC Faculty of Applied Science. The School’s explicit pedagogical mission is to advance the transition to sustainability through excellence in integrated policy and planning research, professional education, and community service. Sustainability is understood broadly to encompass social, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions, and the School’s teaching and research orientation places emphasis on the development of participatory, community-oriented planning methods.