Dr Tan Puay Yok is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture in the School of Design and Environment of the National University of Singapore. He is the Acting Programme Director for the Masters of Landscape Architecture and Co-Director for the Masters of Science (Environmental Management) programmes. He also currently serves as the leader for Research and Teaching Group in Landscape Studies in the Department of Architecture. 

Prior to joining academia, Puay Yok held senior positions in public service and has wide experience in the areas of urban greenery management, policies and research. His research, teaching and professional activities focus on the policies, science, and practices of urban greening and ecology of the built environment. He currently serves in the Editorial Advisory Board of Landscape and Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Ecology, and CITYGREEN, a periodical of the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology for which he was the co-founding Editor. He is also the Review Editor for Urban Ecology of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 

His other professional activities include serving as reviewer for a number of national and international grants, advisory committee member for land use developments, and jury member for design competitions. He also consults on landscape design and planning projects in the region as a means of transferring knowledge from academia to practice. 

Read full profile here.

Research  

Functional Performance of Urban Landscapes: Optimising the performance of urban landscapes as a medium to deliver ecosystem services for enhancing the built environment through manipulation of landscape pattern, composition and design. 

Urban Greenery Solutions for the Built Environment: Development of urban solutions to integrate urban greenery with the built environment in compact cities. 

Urban Ecology: Using the framework of a city as a socio-ecological system to understand the interactions and roles of multiple actors in determining landscape values.

Awards

• Patent: A plant housing device (200905150-9) 
  
• The Institution of Engineers of Singapore Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award (2008)
  
• National Day Awards, Singapore: Commendation Medal (2005)

Affiliation

Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore

Education

PhD (2002), Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA 
B. Horticulture Science and Technology (First Class Honours) (1993), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand