ASEAN POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE 2025

As the Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya celebrates its Silver Jubilee, we find ourselves at a pivotal juncture. Over the past quarter-century, we have built a legacy of excellence, fostering critical thinking, innovation, and transformative design. Yet, the challenges of today demand more than just a continuation of past successes; they require a bold reimagining of the future. Climate crises, rapid urbanization, digital disruptions, socio-political instabilities, and shifting cultural paradigms demand urgent and radical rethinking of how we design, construct, and inhabit our spaces. The prevailing frameworks that have governed architecture, urban planning, and real estate are proving inadequate in the face of escalating global uncertainties. How do we transition from outdated, unsustainable models toward future-proof, resilient, and adaptive built environments?

The Great Transition is not just a phase—it is an imperative. It calls for a reconfiguration of spatial practices, material cultures, governance models, and technological applications that underpin contemporary urban life. This transition challenges us to move beyond incremental change and embrace bold, interdisciplinary, and speculative approaches that will shape the next generation of cities, buildings, and landscapes.

This conference interrogates the role of the built environment in responding to these urgent transformations. How can cities decarbonize without deepening inequalities? Can digitalization enhance rather than erode urban identities? How should designers and planners address social resilience, energy transitions, and post-pandemic urban shifts in ways that prioritize both human and ecological well-being?

As we honor our 25-year journey of excellence, we recognize that legacy alone is not enough. It is time to redefine our role in shaping the next 25 years of built environment research, education, and practice. Bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, APGC 2025 seeks to critically explore the emerging paradigms, design methodologies, and policy innovations required for a built environment that is not just reactive but proactively engaged in shaping the world’s uncertain future. This is the moment to rethink, recalibrate, and radically transform the built environment for a new era.