Singapore ¨C Singapore is a sprightly 60 years young this year. Given its youth, reputation for innovation and highest per capita GDP in the world, could have been a triumphant showcase of the sleek, futuristic and posthuman. The future is definitely on the minds of its designers ¡ª but through the lens of pragmatic problem-solving.
Japan and Singapore are wrestling with some common issues: aging populations, resource-poor island geographies, compressed urban living, highly competitive educational systems causing mental health problems, declining pools of service industry workers and manual laborers, and an East-West identity hang-up.
¡°Nation by Design,¡± the theme of Singapore Design Week 2025 that runs through Sept. 21, doesn¡¯t patronize by telling us the future is bright but reassures us that people are working on it.
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