Rachel Joan Koh

Academics

Rachel Joan Koh

Lecturer, Product Design
rachel-joan-koh
  • MSc. Urban Science, Policy and Planning, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore
  • BA(Hons) Arts Management, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

Rachel Koh graduated with an MSc. in Urban Science, Policy and Planning from the Singapore University of Technology and Design in 2022. Her master's research project involved investigating the role that mass media headlines play in the reproduction of speciesist norms in Singapore's 'city in nature' – speculating the relationship between news, myth, wildlife policy and society's ecological imagination. Prior to this, she received her BA(Hons) in Arts Management from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2009.

During her time as an editor and writer for a regional publishing house, she worked on numerous in-house titles that span topics such as sustainable architecture, interior and graphic design, and conceptual art. Other valuable work experiences include stints at the Venice Biennale, auction houses, and contemporary Southeast Asian art galleries.

Her main intellectual passions lie in material culture, urbanism and geopolitics. In future, she intends to pursue a doctorate in Architectural and Urban History and Theory, with a focus on developing a framework for urban ethics and care in Singapore.

Research Interests
  • Material culture and spatial narratives
  • Urban history, theory and processes
  • Complexity theory and systems thinking
  • Visual anthropology of subcultures
  • Human-animal relations (urban wildlife)
  • Axiology (ethics and aesthetics)
  • The political economy of informal religious spaces
  • Creative pedagogy
  • Geopolitics
Professional Practice
  • Adjunct lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and The Glasgow School of Art, Singapore.