Past Field Trips

Supertree Grove in the Graden by the Bay in Singapore

Singapore 2025

The Master of Future Cities (MFC) program prepares students to tackle complex urban challenges through futures thinking, systems thinking, and foresight methods. In May 2025, MFC students joined other graduate learners for the inaugural FCIT 610: International Field School, which takes place in a global city recognized for innovative, resilient strategies. This year’s destination was Singapore.

As a world leader in foresight and governance, Singapore provided a unique learning environment. Students explored how the city integrates long-term planning into policy through institutions like the Centre for Strategic Futures, housed in the Prime Minister’s Office. They had the privilege of learning directly from experts across industry and government, including DPArchitects, the Singapore Management Institute, and the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Co-led by Dr. Leia Minaker and Helen Kerr, the six-day course combined site visits, expert discussions, and cultural immersion. Following the course, students reflected through multimedia storytelling projects that were both thoughtful and deeply engaging.

Student Works

Emma Cochrane

Welcome to Singapore Sessions, a podcast created by Emma Cochrane as part of her work in the Master of Future Cities (MFC) program, following the International Field Study in May 2025. The series draws on experiences in Singapore to explore what Canada can learn from the Lion City under three topics: scarcity and ingenuity, housing futures, and identity as infrastructure. Through storytelling and reflection, Cochrane connects classroom learning with real-world insights, offering listeners a window into how the MFC program prepares students to think critically about the future of cities and the systems that shape them. 

Watch and listen to Singapore Sessions on YouTube.

Kelsey Kublik

Kelsey Kublik is a graduate student in the MFC program at the FCI. She is the author of Storytelling for Urban Futures – What Can Canada Learn?, a six-part multimedia Instagram series (@futureforesighter) created following the International Field Study in Singapore in May 2025. Through layered reflections on infrastructure, policy, culture, and foresight, her work uses metaphor and personal experience to examine how Singapore’s public policies fit together and what lessons Canada might draw from them.

Read Kublik's full series on Instagram.

T. Bernabe

T. Bernabe is an MFC student at the Future Cities Institute. Their project, Next Stop: Comparative Musings on Mobility, was developed as part of the FCIT 610 International Field School in Singapore in July 2025. Drawing on comparisons between Singapore and Toronto, Bernabe explores how history, governance, and culture have shaped public transit systems in both cities, and what lessons Canadian urban planning can take from Singapore’s integrated, future-oriented approach.

Read Bernabe's full work.