SMU has announced plans on May 15 to redevelop its city campus to ease its space crunch and bring back the buzz to the Civic District. The $20 million project, which will start in August and end in 2017, will add more teaching and learning spaces. SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said that the University is committed to providing adequate and flexible learning spaces, as well as collaboration and recreational spaces that meet the needs of its students. He said that the new facilities will also allow SMU to increase its engagement with the larger community, and that he is confident “that SMU Campus Green can become the pulsating heartbeat of the Bras Basah precinct once again”.