MSc ETH in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems
September 2026 – ongoing
Excellence Scholarship and Opportunity Programme (ESOP) recipient (fully-funded merit scholarship).
I am currently Programme Coordinator at Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) Global, where I also contribute to the ur-scape software project. In my short career so far I have had the privilege of co-founding and leading the Young Urbanists of Southeast Asia; working for consulting and stakeholder engagement organisations; mentoring students; and producing journal papers, documentary films, and music.
Explore my experiences through the interactive CV, or download one of the PDF versions using the controls in the footer.
Excellence Scholarship and Opportunity Programme (ESOP) recipient (fully-funded merit scholarship).
Major in Urban Studies, minor in Mathematical, Computational, and Statistical Sciences (MCS)
Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medallist (rank 1 among BA Hons. students in the Class of 2023, Yale-NUS College)
Summa Cum Laude and Honours (Highest Distinction) | GPA: 4.94/5.00
Featured coursework: Applied Data Science, Software Engineering, Urban Spatial Representation, Urban Economic Development, Methods in the Social Sciences, Southeast Asia Urban Planning Workshop
Princeton-in-Beijing Online Intensive Chinese Language Program (Intermediate Level)
Leading research management and outreach strategy for a research programme with 150+ researchers across Singapore and Zurich, promoting collaborations and building international relationships.
Designed and coordinated an overhaul of FCL Global’s social media strategy, with standardised branding identity, new video and graphics content to platform researchers and demonstrate the impact of FCL research; and a new Instagram presence; results include a 140% increase in LinkedIn followers.
Led creative direction, exhibition curation, and communications for the Future Cities Symposium & Exhibition Singapore 2025, including developing the graphic design system, coordinating with 13 research groups to present their research outcomes, liaising with government agencies and media organisations, and producing advertisements for Instagram, LinkedIn, and the Straits Times, successfully capturing >400 attendees.
Coordinating events and workshops co-organised with partners like Climate Change AI, NRF Singapore, Centre for Liveable Cities, & Participate in Design, connecting over 300 event participants from four continents.
Contributing to the design of AI for Science initiatives and digital infrastructure at the Singapore-ETH Centre.
Supporting PhD and postdoctoral researchers on science communication for diverse audiences, including connecting researchers to outlets such as CNA; co-writing reports and explainers for government and public stakeholders; co-design of stakeholder workshops; and conference presentation development and delivery.
Leading product management for ur-scape, an ADB-funded interactive GIS tool for use in governance and participatory planning contexts, and contributing to engineering, UX design, maintenance, support, and outreach.
Conceived and leading the reimplementation of ur-scape from a monolithic Unity application into a modular architecture with a TypeScript frontend and extensible backend, designed from the ground up with support for real-time data sources, multi-user database configurations, and AI integrations such as MCP servers.
Contributing writing and data analysis to projects on digital governance tools and environmental science indices, including designing and conducting semi-structured interviews, geospatial analysis, and literature review.
Coordinating FCL’s participation in an ADB-funded capacity-building project on using smart urban planning software for integrated urban planning in data-scarce environments, focusing on three cities in Rajasthan, India.
Collaborating with an India-based consulting firm and a South Korean urban design studio to develop concept plans for the three cities based on existing geospatial data, on the themes of heritage, liveability, and transport, contributing to spatial analysis, policy recommendations, and 2D and 3D concept visualisations.
Conceptualised and authored “Inclusive Data Systems for Poverty Alleviation,” a 47-page white paper advising Bangkok on designing smart data systems for social protection with case studies and stakeholder consultations.
Initiated, designed, and developed prototypes for a LINE chatbot matching Bangkok's poor communities with social services as a proof-of-concept project for how digital tools can support the Lab’s Urban Poverty project.
Contributed to the manifesto ‘Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention.’
Contributing to outreach strategy towards the scientific community and the public.
Developing large language model (LLM) system prompts.
Co-leading the URBANovation project, a podcast on innovative ideas for emerging cities in Asia, as well as a series of youth engagement events in Jakarta and Beijing based on the podcast to source policy recommendations for allowing youth to pursue innovative urban solutions.
Technical project leadership, including audio production, sound design, and web development.
Project has received the Bai Xian Asia Institute 2024 Project Award, the UNESCO Net Zero Hackathon Silver Prize, and a recognition as one of the Top 10 Youth Sustainable Projects of ASEAN-EU.
Recruited over 40 members from nine countries, and an international board with 16 leaders and senior advisors from Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Building partnerships with organisations across ASEAN, such as the ASEAN University Network on Ecological Education and Culture, the Ateneo de Manila University, SABRI-THU, and Think Policy Indonesia.
Architecture & Culture (Q1, 29% acceptance rate) | Link TBC
Overlooked Cities Seminar
2023 September 6-8 | Bandung, Indonesia
Future Cities Laboratory Global Conference
2023 October 11-12 | Zurich, Switzerland
Foundations of Home-based Work: A Comparative Perspective
2023 November 28-29 | Singapore
1st International Conference for New Cities ISOCARP World Planning Congress 60th Diamond Anniversary
2024 September 10-13 | New Clark City, Tarlac, Philippines
17th International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU25)
2025 July 1-4 | Lisbon, Portugal
10th United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific Congress
2025 September 24-26 | Goyang, Republic of Korea
Future Cities Symposium 2025 Singapore
2025 September 4-5 | Singapore
Singapore Scientific Conference: A Sustainable Future through Science and Technology
Top 3 Poster in the Environment Field
2025 December 8-11 | Singapore
Spatial Science Sharing Session Singapore, part of the 15th Space Syntax Symposium
2026 June 12 | Singapore
ACM Designing Interactive Systems DIS 2026
2026 June 13-17 | Singapore
Report on ETH Zürich Research Collection reflecting on the outcome and methodology of the Participate with Data workshop. (Link)
Op-ed on Rappler covering the implications of agentic AI on the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. (Link)
Alongside Denise Lee, led a combined guest lecture and co-design workshop on ur-scape and the future of planning support interface design in the AI age as part of the BERSUA seminar series.
Designed and led end-to-end development of the course series, including curriculum design, case research, scripting, storyboarding, filming, directing, editing, post-production, motion graphics, and workshop-driven user testing. The courses are presented by Joshua and his colleagues in the ur-scape team at Future Cities Laboratory Global, and combine case-based learning with activities that let participants use their own data.
Developed and currently maintaining the ur-scape studio website (studio.ur-scape.com), which hosts all course content and instructional materials, built on a customised WordPress + LearnPress stack and Bunny Stream.
Delivered a solo guest lecture for the graduate (5000-level) course ‘Qualitative Methods for Urban Planning’ on the topic of “Case Studies, Photography and Arts-Based Techniques” based on my use of documentary filmmaking as a research method for the project “Filipino City, American Time.”
Alongside Denise Lee, invited to deliver a guest lecture for the course “Designing Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Urban Ecosystems” on the use of the ur-scape software for data visualisation and geodesign. Students from both universities used ur-scape to support urban-scale analyses for comparative studio projects in Singapore and Yogyakarta.
Delivered the solo lecture ‘The Overlooked Global City’ for the graduate-level proseminar ‘Critical Perspectives on Urban Development with and for the Global Urban Majority’ at the Department of Geography and Regional Research.
Alongside Evi Syariffudin, co-delivered the lecture ‘Agropolitan Territories of Monsoon Asia’ for the China GSD Spring 2024 Seminar Discussion Series, with my section focusing on geospatial analysis for urban-rural regions.
Co-convened the international joint lecture series Global Approaches to Urban Intelligence, co-organised by Harvard GSD Urban AI and Future Cities Laboratory Global, and moderated Panel #01 ‘Sensing the City: A Human-Centred Urban Analytics’; other contributions include developing the website using React and MapLibre and designing the event branding material.
Chairing the Digital Innovation cluster at the YUSEA 2025 Symposium on Urban Studies, with the theme of “Urban Innovation in Southeast Asia: Towards Sustainable Urban Futures,” leading submission selection on the topic of Digital Innovation (urban analytics, planning support tools, Internet-of-Things, artificial intelligence, and data governance).
Invited as an expert juror for the final review of student outputs for the graduate (5000-level) course ‘Urban ASEAN: The Changing City in Southeast Asia,’ where students create policy or design proposals in the Southeast Asian context.
‘Mapping the Everyday’ is a workshop conducted by Future Cities Laboratory Global (FCL G) and COLOURS: Collectively Ours. Organised as part of Singapore Design Week, it aims to teach a framework for data-driven participatory design that combines expertise from COLOURS and ur-scape, FCL’s open-source planning support tool.
‘Participate with Data’ is a series of workshops conducted by team behind ur-scape, an open-source geospatial planning support tool developed at FCL Global. For ASUF 2025, the ur-scape team will co-present with the researchers behind the Cooling Singapore project to explore how participatory design and climate digital twin techniques can inform design scenarios in Jakarta, Indonesia. The session was opened by Embassy of Switzerland in Malaysia Deputy Head of Mission Ralph A. Stamm, and I co-led the session alongside Denise Lee, Adelia Ayu Sukma, and Minn Lin Wong.
Young Urbanists of Southeast Asia (YUSEA) were official Knowledge Partners for the Youth Assembly of the ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Forum (ASUF) 2025, organised by Urbanice Malaysia, KPKT, the ASEAN Secretariat, UCLG-ASPAC, and UN HABITAT. We presented our ‘Urban Co-creation Framework on Meaningful Youth Engagement’ and led a workshop with >300 young people from across ASEAN in developing strategies to address complex issues in urbanisation. I co-developed the framework and led the Thematic Cluster on Digital Innovation & Future Skills.
As part of Young Urbanists of Southeast Asia (YUSEA)’s URBANovation project, URBANovation Jakarta aims to bridge the gap between research, participation, and action in urban policy. Featuring policy leaders, industry experts, and next-gen changemakers, these events will spark impactful conversations on sustainable urban development, with a focus on how youth and community participation can drive strategies and contribute to actionable policies for Southeast Asia. I was the opening Keynote Speaker and provided feedback to youth groups’ policy workshop proposals.
‘Participate with Data’ is a workshop co-organised by Future Cities Laboratory Global and Singaporean community design nonprofit Participate in Design (P!D) as part of Singapore Design Week 2024. This workshop introduces a framework designed to make data more accessible and interactive. Through hands-on experience with FCL Global’s planning support tool, ur-scape, and collaborative activities to analyse city data, the workshop aims to enhance engagement and transparency in sharing information with stakeholders.
The Young Leaders Programme is a platform for young local and international leaders to network and collaborate on initiatives around social cohesion and community building.
The Young Leaders Programme is a platform for young local and international leaders to network and collaborate on initiatives around social cohesion and community building.
Awarded for the essay “To Make Global South Children SeeCities through SimCity: Games as Transmitting Hegemonic Urban Imaginaries.”
Top student (rank 1) in the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) cohort, 2023.
For capstone project “City on the Line? Emergence of Remote Work in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry as a Challenge to Urban Futures in the Philippines.”
For capstone project “City on the Line? Emergence of Remote Work in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry as a Challenge to Urban Futures in the Philippines” and the film “Filipino City, American Time.”
alongside Lee Jia Ying, Nicholas Loh Shao Min, and Portia-Alexandria Lim Jia Ing for the project ‘Boa-levard’
Course on theoretical foundations, frameworks, and best practices for capacity development in Global Majority regions.
Course covering the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF).
English (native); Tagalog (conversational); 普通话/Mandarin Chinese (intermediate); Cebuano (basic)
QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, Space Syntax toolkit, PostGIS, Python/R/JavaScript libraries
AutoCAD, IntelliCAD, SketchUp, Blender, V-Ray (basic)
Audio/video production, cinematography, field recording, microphone and camera rig setup, mixing, mastering, motion graphics, and colour grading
Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects, Lightroom), Affinity Suite (Photo, Designer, Publisher), DaVinci Resolve, Logic Pro
MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021), Sony a6500 with various TTARTISAN lenses, DJI Osmo Pocket 4 and Mic Mini 2, RODE Wireless ME, Audio Technica ATH-M40x headphones and ATR-2100x microphone, Moondrop Chu 2, and two Dell UltraSharp 4k monitors
technology and urbanisation, translation science, participatory planning processes, planning support systems, geospatial data science, human-computer interaction, human-AI collaboration, critical smart cities studies, complex systems change, decision science, youth engagement.
code + design + sound © 2026 joshua vargas