Singapore is a city-state that experienced very rapid urban and economic growth during the second half of the 20th century. This is the result of the establishment of multinational companies (MNCs) within Singapore, due to the right policymaking by the Singapore government. Various studies have been done on Singapore’s economic growth and urban development. However, the literature that looks at the relation between these topics is limited. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to find out how urban design and the establishment of MNC’s are interconnected. The research is conducted through existing literature reviews on interest factors that are important for MNC’s decision-making. These factors are linked to urban design aspects that are integrated within Singapore’s city structure. Aspects that will be taken into consideration are infrastructure and green spaces. Next, the impact of MNC establishment on the urban design aspects of Singapore’s CBD will be analysed through the use of primary sources. The main findings are that the quality of urban design is of insignificant importance for the establishment of MNCs in the early development stages. Urban design influence for future investment decisions remains unclear. However, the investments from MNCs were a major factor that shaped the CBD’s urban design into what it is today.

Hong Kong is full of complexities in its culture and space, showing in the movies. The clear imageability allows it presents itself through city structures, landmarks, and architectural objects in the city, playing a vital role for people to recognize and be impressed. In addition to the spatial aspect, the cultural complexities undoubtedly affect the daily life of Hong Kong people and further reflect on the living space, meaning the city. The relationship between culture and space is intimate, creating vivid and dynamic images of the city. As the city image changes rapidly today, the cinematic image provides a way to capture the dynamic and fluid cityscape. The “city complexity – cinematic image” discussion is significant in the thesis, emphasizing the relationship between the city and cinematic image and showing how the cinematic images picture Hong Kong’s complexities. To understand the images that Hong Kong presents, it introduces several movies and analyzes the images from them, from the 1990s, transitional Hong Kong to further projecting the future. The cinematic images give an observation of living in Hong Kong and frame a broad picture of Hong Kong city space and its culture, providing another way to research city space.