Cities and themes of gex courses in 2024

Bali / Lombok: The Wallace Line: Conservation and Sustainable Tourism – A/P Peter Vail, A/P Donald Favareau & Ms Sam Shu Qin

This module’s theme is sustainable oceanic natural resource harvesting and alternative livelihoods. We’ll explore this theme through one main question: How did local fishermen collectives on these two islands transition from destructive environmental harvesting methods to becoming regional and global models for conservation, sustainable development, and alternative social enterprises? In Bali/Lombok, local fishermen collectives have emerged as the global paradigm for sustainable development for coastal communities. We will learn from fishermen collectives in areas such as global ornamental fish and coral trade, shark finning, and octopus aquaculture, as well as understand how these lessons and models can be applied throughout SEA. 

Beijing: The Chinese Way of Technology – Dr Lee Chee Keng 

Is it true that China’s way of doing technology is so different from that of “the West”? Join GEx Beijing! This module will combine theory, history, and sociology to engage you deeply with the complexity and locality of Beijing to demystify the technological side of China. We will journey through the historical roots of China’s embrace of modernity and why science was played as the biggest tool. We will also have ethnographic experience of both the bright and dark consequences brought by the high-tech achievements. It’s an opportunity to understand the dynamics between technology and social changes at GEx Beijing!

Chicago: Agritech Enterprises in the Heart of America – Dr Jerome Kok

In terms of agriculture, cities have tended to specialise in certain components and do not sustain the entire process themselves, which raises an important question – what then makes an “agricultural” city? As an agriculture powerhouse, Illinois presents a valuable model to explore this question. We primarily approach this GEx topic from scientific knowledge and technological advancements through research at the Universities. We will also contextualise these factors within the emerging challenges of rising costs, a changing climate, and varying consumer demand patterns. More broadly, we hope to appreciate the complexity and trade-offs involved in developing cities toward their agricultural potential.

Mekong Delta: Resilience and Livelihoods at Water’s Edge – Dr Cheng Yi’En

The great Mekong gives life; but its waters and surrounding lands are increasingly troubled. How do people in the Mekong delta organise their lives around evolving water and land ecosystems, even as their livelihoods encounter stressors as a result of rapid development and environmental change? This transboundary GEx embarks on a multi-sensory trip along the Mekong River and delta, beginning in Phnom Penh and ending in Ho Chi Minh City, to discover answers using the interdisciplinary lens of resilience. We will move along the river’s pathway and engage with topics covering cultural identities, rural-urban change, and environmental livelihoods through a series of curated activities and projects with locals.

New York: The World’s Global City – Dr Norman Vasu

This GEx has one core question: How does a city become a global city? In the case of New York, a global city sometimes described as the ‘capital of the world’, did this development come about ineluctably or through design? Expressed in another manner, is New York an organic or willed creation? The GEx employs the theme of the city to understand the tension in all societies between the built (ville) and the lived experience (Cité). This tension cuts to the heart of the human experience as it is a springboard to study how what we construct determines us as much as what we are determines what we construct. With the broad theme, this GEx invites students – within the realms of reason – to design and answer a question they have about New York City and its status as a global city.

Paris: Arts, Diplomacy and Social Innovation – Dr Mariana Losada

What is the relationship between the arts, culture, diplomacy and social innovation? GEx Paris provides the opportunity to explore how these themes are intertwined through an immersion in the French capital and short trips to other emblematic European cities related to the course (Brussels and The Hague). GEx Paris offers a transformative journey where students will experience a new cultural environment and learn about the themes in an unparalleled manner. Participants will engage in different types of activities such as lectures, immersive workshops, field visits and masterclasses that will help them understand how these themes are relevant to the city.

Sulawesi: Excavating the effects of economic development – Dr Ryan Tans

This GEx explores the cultural, social, and environmental changes associated with Sulawesi’s rapid economic development. Public investment combined with a nickel boom have made Sulawesi one of Indonesia’s fastest growing regions. As a result, change is apparent in Sulawesi’s society and landscape, even as nickel flows outward to power the world’s phones and electric vehicles. Students will have an opportunity to reflect on the ways in which global commodity chains, national investment priorities, and provincial development plans affect local communities.

Tokyo: Cultural and Technological Entrepreneurship and the City – Dr Lee Chee Keng

How does a city evolve and develop? How do cultures and technologies develop in relation to the city? How do culture and technology shape a city, and lives in it? GEx Tokyo examines the roles culture and technology play in everyday lives, and how they complement and conflict with one another in processes of innovation and entrepreneurship to improve lives and drive development and growth. Through site visits, discussions and explorations, students will gain insights into how strategies are derived to develop enterprises, enhance livelihood, create value, and accumulate capital in and beyond the city.

Toronto: Diversity and Inclusion in Governance – Dr Bjorn Gomes

Creating inclusive systems of governance which respect diversity is an important aspiration for many democratic societies in a globalised world. GEx Toronto critically examines the complexities involved in creating such systems for a heterogeneous population. Through an interdisciplinary framework, students will explore how narratives concerning diversity and inclusion are constructed and challenged, how communities are legitimised or pathologised by state institutions, and why struggles for recognition and autonomy succeed or fail as communities work to fashion unity out of difference. Students will engage in self-directed projects within a curated experiential environment, document accomplishments, and contribute to knowledge about Canada.

Upper Mekong: Environment and Sustainability: Science Meets Policy – Dr Shaun Lin

GEx Upper Mekong examines how Thailand and Laos manage their environmental and sustainability issues across different physical and human environments and the challenges they face. In particular, we focus on the Mekong River between these two countries and learn how it is further shaped by additional transboundary activities at the uppermost section of the river in China, and on-site hydropower developments involving Thailand and Laos. The field module also exposes students the wider environmental and sustainability topics concerning the key sites of Bangkok, Vientiane and Chiang Mai. The course is interdisciplinary in nature, with a focus on STEM issues. Students learn to engage scientific data backed with an overview of the local and regional politics, and gain critical insights on how environmental and sustainability science meets policy in a public context.

Yogyakarta / Bandung: Art, Design, and the Creative City – Dr Kiven Strohm

What is a creative city? What can a creative city do? For this GEx we will explore two important creative cities in Indonesia, Yogyakarta (Jogja) and Bandung. Jogja is a creative city that works through vibrant artistic interventions with local communities, whereas Bandung works largely through design-focused governmental/international initiatives. This GEx will explore how art and design shape different urban sensibilities and atmospheres and, in turn, two different forms of the creative city with respect to issues of social justice and innovation, sustainable development and urban regeneration, social cohesion, participation, and intercultural dialogue.