The new urban planner doesn’t just build cities, but listens to them Innovation in the public sector is a willingness to experiment, collaborate, and co-create with stakeholders in the community, says a spokesperson from Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC). Innovation in governance isn’t only about tech but co-creation, says the CLC’s spokesperson, pointing to skills like design thinking, community engagement, and rapid prototyping for effective public sector work. Image: CLC's Building Community Resilience playbook When residents of Yio Chu Kang, a neighbourhood in Singapore, were asked to help redesign their estate, they didn’t just answer a survey, then hand it back to the planner. They shaped the urban planning process throughout. Over 100 caregivers and community stakeholders gathered in workshops and focus groups, contributing more than 1,000 data points on how dementia affects daily life in their estate. Prototypes were tested with the stakeholders, feedback was gathered, and adjustments were made quickly. Compared to traditional planning methods, an iterative approach led to shorter implementation timelines, and new urban design interventions across the estate, including colour-coded blocks and rest points to support wayfinding. More navigable streets were a visible benefit for residents. But underneath that was something much bigger: a new model of governance. While Singapore has long been admired for its top-down precision, the question for urban planners today isn’t so much about what gets built, but who gets to shape it. “A human-centric city is about putting people, their everyday experiences, needs, and aspirations, at the heart of how cities are planned and governed,” a spokesperson from the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) tells GovInsider. That means going beyond efficient services or economic growth, but designing policies and infrastructure that improve the quality of life in citizens’ own terms and lived experiences, he adds. CLC is a research