[Excerpt] The Cornell Baker Program in Real Estate Class of 2020 kicked off its international trek in Singapore on Monday, January 6, 2020. Singapore’s phenomenal urban transformation since its independence in 1965 has been internationally recognized as a case study in the advocacy for and potential of a strong, centrally planned and state-backed guidance of real estate development. The students had spent the prior semester studying Singapore’s approach and contrasting it against others both in the region and internationally. The first stop of the trek, PGIM Real Estate, immediately offered students an immersion into the dynamics of the local market and Singapore’s importance as a hub through which many in the international community deploy capital across Southeast Asia.