This book examines how institutional and environmental features in neighbourhoods can contribute to social resilience, highlighting the related socio-demographic issues, as well as the infrastructure, planning, design and policies issues. It is divided into three themes - infrastructure, planning, and community. Infrastructure examines how physical features such as parks and street patterns influence neighborliness and resilience, while planning studies how urban design enhances social interactions. Lastly, community discusses policies that can forge social bonds, either through racial integration, grassroots activities, or social service. Overall, the book combines research and empirical work with scholarly models of resilience and governance philosophy, focusing on Singapore's urban planning and social policies.

The Singapore Perspectives series is a yearly publication that provides critical analysis of emerging trends and issues Singapore faces in terms of social, economic and political development. It is a quick and essential reference for understanding the broad policy discussions that animate thought leaders, policy-makers and the public in the country during the immediate period or that are likely to do so in the short and medium term.This edited volume brings together papers presented at the Singapore Perspectives 2012 Conference. The Conference came in the wake of Singapore's General Elections held on May 7, 2011, whose outcome resulted in Singapore's political leaders taking a fresh look at Singapore's public policy. More importantly, the government has pledged to reconnect with all segments of society, as it grapples with the issues that have arisen.Some of the major issues discussed in the book include the widening income gap, the affordability of housing and healthcare, as well as the re-examination of the processes of citizen participation in policy-making. The book also includes the speech made by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, that outlines his views on the model of governance and policies that would help the country bridge the divides.Co-published by the think-tank, the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore, this is a useful publication for those with an interest in understanding the governance challenges facing a small, highly globalised economy and nation-state, or those who want a quick feel of the pulse of Singapore.

This book showcases some of the key thematic issues reported by Asian migrants and sojourners residing abroad, as well as non-Asians living in the Far East. The diverse range and scope of the papers demonstrate the interdisciplinary, convoluted and intertwined perspectives in human transnational movement.

The book comprises four thematic sections, in Intercultural Relations and Social Integration, cross-national interactions and the notion of rootedness and nation state among individuals and their families form the nexus of discussion. On Cultural Competency in Workplace and Social Environment, the individuals and their performance in the social and corporate spheres take center stage. On one hand, both Asians and non-Asians share similar challenges across cultures, but on the other, they each reported different social and workplace dynamics as a consequence of their ethnic cultural background. In Socio-cultural Effectiveness and Emotional Adaptation, the focus gravitates toward socio-emotional adjustment of Asian and Western sojourners in cultures opposite their own. In order to appreciate the cultural and emotive dimensions, discursive examination and comparative analysis across geographic locations are needed. The last thematic category in Understanding Asian Migration in Asia, a ubiquitous challenge in Asian societies will be presented the rural-urban labor migration movement in China.