About

Dr Cheong Koon Hean is an architect-planner who has been credited with shaping much of Singapore’s urban landscape. In her long career, especially as the Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of National Development and subsequently as the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from 2004 to 2010, she led the long term strategic planning of Singapore, crucial to ensuring that the development needs of the small city state can be met. She also played a key role in the development of major growth areas. In particular, she was the key driver of Marina Bay, Singapore’s new city extension, which has since become the new signature image for Singapore. A strong proponent of good design, she initiated the Urban Design and Architecture Excellence Program, encouraging the development of many high quality as well as high rise buildings, transforming Singapore into one of the most livable and beautiful cities in Asia. At the same time, she nurtured an award winning heritage conservation program, which has gained international recognition as one which balances the safeguarding of heritage with economic considerations. She has shared Singapore’s planning experience with many countries and also helped to formulate the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco City Master Plan.

In 2010 Dr Cheong Koon Hean was appointed the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in Singapore. The HDB houses some 82 % of the population of Singapore in one million public housing flats located in 26 towns/estates. Since joining the HDB, Dr Cheong has steered the organization towards developing well designed, community centric, sustainable and smart towns and overseen one of the largest building programs by HDB. She led the review of many housing policies to ensure that housing is affordable to a large segment of the population. Today, HDB has a home ownership rate of 94%, one of the highest in the world. In addition, she formulated plans for several new HDB towns, integrating innovative ideas for a new generation of good quality public housing. Under her leadership, HDB has ramped up its research and development efforts to support the development of more sustainable towns. HDB is also embarking on the development of the Smart Town, harnessing ICT and big data to develop improved environments and to provide more efficient services to its residents.

Dr Cheong was formerly on the Boards of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Jurong Town Corporation, Jurong Port, the National Heritage Board and was a Board Trustee of the international Urban Land Institute. She is currently on the Boards of the HDB, the National University of Singapore, and the Civil Service College. Active internationally, she is also the current Deputy President and Council Member of the International Federation for Housing and Planning, and served on expert panels, such as those convened by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Real Estate and Urbanisation Global Agenda Council. She is also a nominating committee member of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize.

A Colombo Plan Scholar, Dr Cheong graduated with a first class honours degree and University Gold Medal in Architecture (Newcastle); a Masters degree in Urban Development Planning (University College London) and has completed the Advanced Management Programme (Harvard). She was conferred the silver, gold and Meritorious Service Medals by the President of Singapore for outstanding public service, received an honorary doctorate in Architecture as well as the Alumni’s Convocation Medal for Professional Excellence, is a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Architects, awarded the International Women Forum’s ‘Woman Who Make a Difference Award 2011 (Washington DC, USA) and inducted into the SCWO Hall of Fame. She is also the Tan Swan Beng Endowed Professor in Nanyang Technological University.

Dr Cheong Koon Hean is an architect-planner who has been credited with shaping much of Singapore’s urban landscape. In her long career, especially as the Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of National Development and subsequently as the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from 2004 to 2010, she led the long term strategic planning of Singapore, crucial to ensuring that the development needs of the small city state can be met. She also played a key role in the development of major growth areas. In particular, she was the key driver of Marina Bay, Singapore’s new city extension, which has since become the new signature image for Singapore. A strong proponent of good design, she initiated the Urban Design and Architecture Excellence Program, encouraging the development of many high quality as well as high rise buildings, transforming Singapore into one of the most livable and beautiful…

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