Cheong koon hean biography
- Cheong-Chua Koon Hean is a Singaporean urban planner and architect.
- She was the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) from 2010 to 2020, overseeing the development and management of over 1 million public housing flats.
- Cheong-Chua Koon Hean is a Singaporean urban planner and architect.
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Dr Cheong Koon Hean
Dr Cheong Koon Hean is the CEO of the Housing & Development Board since 2010. She oversees 1 million public housing flats and leads the development of well designed, community-centric, sustainable and smart towns. She was the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority from 2004 to 2010, in charge of strategic land use planning, conservation of built heritage, promotion of design excellence and the real estate market. She was credited with major urban transformations of Singapore, including Marina Bay.
Dr Cheong is currently on the Boards of HDB, NUS, and the Civil Service College. Active internationally, she is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Real Estate and Urbanisation Global Agenda Council, the Deputy President of the International Federation for Housing and Planning, and a nominating committee member of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize.
Dr Cheong has been conferred multiple awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding public service; Doctor of Architecture honoris causa, Convocation Medal for Professional Excellence, IWF’
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She spent five years studying architecture in Australia.
But when the Colombo Plan scholar returned to Singapore in 1981, she was not channeled into designing buildings, but into urban planning.
This would set her on the course to add her “two cents worth” to roles that included convincing investors – during SARS no less – to develop the Marina Bay area, where land reclamation started in the 1970s.
From “backyard”, Marina Bay is now the “tua merng” (Hokkien for big door), or global image, of Singapore.
In 2004, Dr Cheong became the first female CEO of Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), and from 2010, helmed the Housing Development Board (HDB) with 5,600 staff – three times the number at URA. At HDB, her teams would introduce a new generation of public housing, and shape Singapore’s surroundings to include waterways (Punggol) and farmways (Tengah).
Her architecture training and skills have been invaluable to the complexity of urban planning.
“Instead of doing single buildings, an urban planner has a much greater influence
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Biography — Cheong Koon Hean
Dr Cheong Koon Hean
Chair, Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Nominating Committee
Chair, Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities
Chair, Centre for Liveable Cities
Singapore
Dr Cheong Koon Hean is Chair of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities as well as Professor of Practice in the Singapore University of Technology and Design. She is concurrently Chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities under the Ministry of National Development, Singapore.
Dr Cheong has played an active role in the urban transformation of Singapore over the years. She was the CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) from 2010 to 2020, overseeing the development and management of over 1 million public housing flats. At HDB, she introduced a new generation of public housing and implemented large scale sustainability, biophilic and smart features in HDB towns.
Dr Cheong was also the CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from 2004 to 2010 and steered the urban planning and development of Singapore, contributing her extensive experience in st
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