S8E6: “In the space between progress and belonging.”

In our season finale, we sit with Dr. Louisa May Khoo, an urban planner, storyteller, and compassionate observer of humanity, to explore what truly shapes how we live, age, remember, and belong. Through deeply thoughtful reflections on Singapore’s evolution, the transformation of iconic Chinatown spaces, and the unseen emotional costs of progress, she helps us consider how memory, place, and identity are forever intertwined. We discuss loneliness, loss, resilience, and the quiet ache that accompanies aging, alongside the extraordinary power of community and connection in restoring meaning. Dr. Khoo introduces her powerful lens of “hardware, software, and heartware,” reminding us that compassionate systems require both thoughtful infrastructure and everyday human care.Together, we reflect on grief, migration, generational inheritance, and the stories we carry forward, sometimes unknowingly. We explore the kinds of conversations families avoid, the truths buried beneath politeness, and the necessity of courage in speaking honestly with one another. And we end with a reflection on what it means to be an audience - the idea that listening, witnessing, and receiving a story completes it.This episode is tender, intellectual, grounding, and deeply human. It invites us not only to think differently about aging and community, but to hold our elders, our neighborhoods, our histories, and one another with renewed reverence.

About our guest:

Dr. Louisa-May Khoo investigates the intersections of urban change and social wellbeing with a focus on racial justice and planning for longevity. A veteran of public governance and housing policy, her international career trajectory spans academic research, planning practice and community advocacy. She brings an attentiveness to the humanistic register through her work, what she calls the other A.I., an 'anthropological intelligence' grounded in memory, relationships, lived experiences and the rhythms of everyday life. It is a belief that such a humanistic perspective gives voice to the coalescence of grievances and hope, providing openings for reconciliation, forgiveness and possibility to foster thriving societies. Dr. Khoo holds a PhD in Planning from the University of British Columbia and is currently a Senior Planner with the City of Maple Ridge in British Columbia, Canada.