Healthier Futures by Design: The Human-Centric Built Environment

In an era marked by climate challenges, resource constraints, and rapid urbanisation, the environments we inhabit profoundly influence our health, productivity, and resilience.

Recognising this, the Distinguished Seniors Fellowship Programme (DSFP) is honoured to feature an elective seminar by Professor Lam Khee Poh, Provost's Chair Professor of Architecture and the Built Environment at NUS for the inaugural run of the DSFP starting in August 2025.

Titled “Climate Change and the Urban Ecosystem,” this master's-level seminar explores how thoughtful design, strategic planning, and rigorous building diagnostics converge to create healthy, high-performance urban habitats that are not only sustainable but also enhance human well-being.

Beyond technicalities, this seminar invites a paradigm shift: viewing architecture as a pivotal player in public health.

Professor Lam articulates this vision succinctly:

“Human beings are an intrinsic part of the urban ecosystem. We are simultaneously producers and consumers of its constituent elements. Addressing sustainable consumption and production (as framed in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 12) is not just an environmental priority. It is a fundamental human behavioural challenge that influences our holistic condition: physiological, psychological, sociological, and economical.”

For DSFP Candidates poised to align their leadership with enduring impact, this seminar offers Professor Lam’s compelling framing of ‘total building performance and diagnostics’. It challenges leaders to envision and enact environments that foster health, equity, and sustainability.

Distinctively, the session is both interdisciplinary and experiential. DSFP Candidates will explore passive and active design strategies, engage with WELL and GREEN international building standards, and participate in a guided tour of NUS’s award-winning net-positive energy buildings.

A hands-on diagnostic exercise will further bridge theory with practice, emphasising the tangible benefits of human-centric design.

This seminar encapsulates the DSFP's core pillars: purpose, exploration, action, community, and health. It underscores the imperative for leaders to champion environments that not only meet functional needs but also elevate the human experience.

“We often think of buildings as inert structures, but they are living systems that either enable or erode our ability to thrive. By understanding how to design with climate and health in mind, leaders can become stewards of environments that foster true flourishing,” Professor Lam added.