Justin Stern

Assistant Professor Justin D Stern joined Yale-NUS College as an Urban Studies faculty in January 2020. He also holds an appointment in the Asian Urbanisms cluster at the Asia Research Institute.

Asst Prof Stern holds a PhD in Urban Planning and a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Design Studies and Political Economy from Sarah Lawrence College. In 2020, he was the Harold A. Pollman Postdoctoral Fellow in Real Estate and Urban Development at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Asst Prof Stern practised as an urban planner in the affordable housing sector in the South Bronx, New York City.

Asst Prof Stern’s research focuses on the interplay of economic development, technological disruption, and urban form.

His current research project, “Global Outsourcing, Local Transformations: Transnational Business and Urban Restructuring in the Philippines” looks at the socio-spatial ​implications of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines. A key finding of the research is that the expansion of the BPO industry is driving a new type of urban agglomeration in the Philippines, one in which issues of time – and the specific time zone(s) served – shape the organisation of physical space, and influence urban design and planning practices.

Asst Prof Stern’s research has been supported by the Asia Centre at Harvard University, the Fulbright Program, and the Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs.

Research Specialisations

• Cities and Urbanisation
• International and Comparative Planning
• Economic Development and Technological Change
• Urban Design
• Post-Growth Planning
• Southeast Asia

Teaching Modules

• Cities and Economic Development
• Urban ASEAN: The Changing City in Southeast Asia
• Adelaide to Zuhai: Cities in Comparative Perspective
• Comparative Social Inquiry