I am thankful to have been awarded £33,999 from the LSE Middle East Centre’s Kuwait Programme to start a new research project in September 2019, which aims to analyse and compare how Asian cities have risen to become reference points for the development of cities in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The study entitled Asian Capital and the Rise of Smart Urbanism will look at the experiences in Kuwait and the Philippines,. The Philippines study is to be supported by the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre. The project web page can be accessed here.