Citymaking Studio — The Foundry Session
A closed-door, half-day studio for XID practitioners.
A compressed, closed-door studio convened for practitioners working with Experience Improvement Districts (XIDs) — a framework for improving how places are experienced, measured and stewarded over time.
The morning unfolds across the Bras Basah Bugis precinct: scene-setting from a resident's perspective, Pecha Kucha–style provocations from precinct partners, and a guided Foundry Layered Trail in two small groups — before the studio regroups around three questions of liveability, loveability and longevity.
It is a working session for people already practising XID, not an introduction to it.
A compressed morning.
- 09:00Scene-setting
Life within the neighbourhood, read from a resident's perspective — framing the day's enquiry around the Bras Basah Bugis precinct.
- 09:30Precinct Panel
Pecha Kucha–style provocations from precinct partners — SkillsSeed, Temasek Shophouse and Heritage SG — moderated by weareMIXD.
- 10:30Foundry Layered Trail
Two small groups walk the precinct with Foundry guides — surfacing the unplanned, the ritualised and the enduring across a single district.
- 11:45Regroup
Studio conversation around three questions: liveability, loveability and longevity — what planners would have to learn to read before redrawing.
- 12:30Close
Studio Faculty.
Faculty are practitioners shaping cities in practice — bringing live projects, from XIDs to wider urban systems, into the Studio.
The group convenes across the five disciplines of the XID canon: a foundational frame, and the four Ramsgreat XID pillars of Nature, Wellbeing, Future Heritage, and Our Model Town.
Rajiv AhujaFounder, WSDM HausBrings the legacy lens to placemaking — designing streets, parks and harbours for the full arc of a life.
Tulsi GroverSenior Partner, weareMIXDDesigns participation processes that put residents at the centre of place-shaping.
Dr Samantha HayesFounder, Bioneering AustraliaWorks at the intersection of biodiversity, regeneration and the built environment.
Clare InksterFounder, The Curiosity ExperimentExplores how curiosity, creativity and human-centred enquiry shape healthier places.
Dr Anuj JainFounding Director, bioSEASoutheast Asia's first trained Biomimicry Professional, designing districts that learn from nature.
Digvijay Singh KathiwadaChairperson, Kathiwada FoundationStewards a long-running, family-led practice of cultural patronage and community participation.
Charles LandryOriginator, Creative City conceptFour decades framing the cultural and creative life of cities, from the Creative City to the Civic City.
Erin LeeFounder, The Big Sit & Mindful MomentsFounded a global public mindfulness movement inspired by the Conscious Cities Index research.
Saurabh ManglaFounder, LumateraDesigns adaptive reuse and cultural infrastructure that hold heritage and contemporary practice in the same building.
Helen MarriageFounder, ArtichokeStages large-scale public artworks that turn heritage sites into live cultural events at city scale.
Leonard NgCountry Market Director APAC, Henning LarsenLandscape architect and Singapore's 2023 Designer of the Year, turning drainage canals into biodiverse landscapes.
Manas RathFounder, Better PlaceFounder of Better Place, a global city think tank anchored in Mumbai. TEDx speaker on cities that let us live, move and rest well — and convenor of the annual XID Expedition.
Saurav RoyCo-Founder, Switch & RoyCo-founder of Switch & Roy, a Goa-based studio designing brand, motion and experiential work for South Asia's cultural economy — from Serendipity Arts Festival to the Indian Music Experience Museum. Brings the Studio its design and identity craft for place-based work.
Elinor SeathCo-Founder, REMIXDCo-founder of REMIXD and an architect of the Experience Improvement District (XID) framework.
Manvendra Singh ShekhawatFounder, Dhun LifeLeads Dhun, a first-principles XID prototype reimagining a heritage district ecology-first.
Anupam YogManaging Partner, XDG LabsDeveloped the XID concept from the Conscious Cities Index through an Oxford dissertation into live practice across the UK and India.
Faculty are confirmed on a rolling basis. Additional Studio mentors will be announced ahead of June 2026.
Practical information.
- Date
- 18 June 2026
- Venue
- The Foundry, Singapore
- Format
- Closed-door, by invitation
- Seats
- 30 XID practitioners
The Foundry
The Citymaking Studio is hosted at The Foundry — a heritage building reimagined as a home for collective impact, where the nuts and bolts of social change come together.
The choice is intentional. The Foundry sits in the Bras Basah Bugis precinct — Singapore's designated arts and heritage district, home to the National Museum, Singapore Art Museum, the National Library, LASALLE College of the Arts, the School of the Arts (SOTA), Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and a dense weave of independent galleries, studios, and creative collectives.
It is, in many ways, a working laboratory of the very ideas the Studio explores: how culture, education, and civic life are designed into the fabric of a city — and how a single precinct can hold heritage, contemporary practice, and learning in the same breath.
A closed-door studio for XID practitioners.
Participation is by invitation, capped at 30 XID practitioners. If you are practising XID — or convening one — and would like to be considered, write to us.
Request an invitation