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How Singapore is Pioneering the Way to Creating a Greener Urban Environment

• Written by Jullia Joson
• Published on February 13, 2022

Singapore as of late is continually building its reputation as a City in Nature , with Singaporean design long having a strong consciousness to acknowledge that green spaces matter. Urban planners and architects alike have taken a conscientious decision to weave in nature throughout the city as it continues to uproot new buildings and developments, incorporating the implementation of plant life in any form, whether it be through green roofs, cascading vertical gardens, or verdant walls.

This article will explore the pioneering actions taking place in Singapore to create a more biodiverse city and nation, and how this provides a view of how other major cities can adopt similar initiatives over the next decade to provide a blueprint for the future.

Landscape architects, Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl , and the Singaporean government statutory board, National Parks Board , have led the way in creating the biodiverse garden-filled city that Singapore is today. Additionally, the research of Yun Hye Hwang of the National University of Singapore and the Future Cities Lab is presently focused on exploring how to shape sustainable cities and settlement systems through science, by design.

Singapore is already leading the way in efforts to create a greener urban environment following the aftermath of COP26 , and whilst its initiative to green Singapore was originally focused on giving the city-state a distinct and intentionally desirable image, today this approach is praised for its ability to tackle issues surrounding urban heat, assist with sustainable water management, and improve biodiversity in the city. Several projects have been implemented to continue dealing with these raising issues and providing sustainable design solutions to further the 'greening' of the city.

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park by Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl is one of Singapore's most popular heartland parks. As part of a much-needed park upgrade and plans to improve the capacity of the Kallang channel along the edge of the park, works were carried out to transform what was once a utilitarian concrete channel into a naturalized river, creating new spaces for the community to enjoy.

"The project was designed to maximize the catchment of water that falls naturally on the island, as well as creating a sense of ownership that will run through generations, so people will want to protect the natural environment." – Leonard Ng, Country Director

The project is part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Program , a long-term initiative of Singapore's Public Utilities Board to transform the country's water bodies beyond their functions of drainage and water supply, into vibrant new spaces for community bonding and recreation.

"The project encourages a biodiverse ecosystem – with birds and otters, among others, colonising the space because it was designed for people and nature to coexist in harmony. When people feel closer to nature and want to preserve it, this is successful biophilic design - using nature to energise and charge people and allowing them to reconnect with nature as our ancestors did." – Leonard Ng, Country Director

Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl (with CPG Consultants) was also responsible for some of the developments at Jurong Lake Gardens , Singapore's first national gardens in the heartlands. The 53-hectare Lakeside Garden aims to restore the landscape heritage of the swamp and forest as a canvas for recreation and community activities. The design is reminiscent of a conscious effort to bring back the nature that was once unique to the Jurong area.

Lastly for Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl's landscape projects is Kampung Admiralty (with WOHA), a flagship project that brings together a multitude of programs under one roof. WOHA’s architectural scheme builds upon a layered 'club sandwich' approach. The abundance of greenery present within the design of the housing development serves as an ideal venue for the community to relax and strengthen their relationships with one another, with tree planting strategies comprising the likes of biodiversity, foliage, and fruit trees.

Future Cities Lab Global aims to strengthen the capacity of Singapore and Switzerland to research, understand, and actively respond to the challenges of global environmental sustainability. Professor Thomas Schröpfer from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (a Principal Investigator at the Future Cities Lab Global) comments:

"Singapore has been a very interesting case study to look at as it is very dense and there is an extreme pressure on development. As it grows, the only way the city can go is up - to become a vertical city. Over the last 10 years the government has introduced new policies that incentivise green architecture and there are many interesting cases in the context of Singapore – within buildings, as well in the urban design strategies that architects deploy."

Future Cities Lab's research continues to look into the environmental performance of green buildings, improving the urban climate, assisting the issues of overheating through cooling, and measuring the positive impact on biodiversity. They believe that the main challenge in achieving a 'city in nature' is the public acceptance that humans need to coexist with other living beings.

Yun Hye Hwang from the National University of Singapore (NUS) is continually exploring the possibilities of growing connections between academic findings and practical applications of urban greening in real-world situations, believing that green spaces are vital to building quality of life.

The Ventus Naturalized Garden on the main campus of NUS is a prime example of alternative landscape technology that allows spontaneous plants to overgrow the existing monotonous campus lawn with minimal design interventions. It provides a connection between a woodland park and a secondary forest, demonstrating that even a small piece of land can accommodate a variety of flora, whilst still serving as part of an ecological network at the city scale.

In 2021, the Singapore government launched its Green Plan 2030 , a whole-of-nation movement to get every Singaporean on board; getting everyone motivated to help transform Singapore into a glowing global city of sustainability. Some key programs of the Green Plan include setting aside 50% more land (around 200 hectares) for nature parks which will all be within a 10-minute walk to a respective household and aiming to plant one million more trees across the island to absorb more CO2, resulting in the population enjoying cleaner air, and cooler shade.

With the vision of creating a City in a Garden and enhancing the community's overall wellbeing, the National Parks Board of Singapore has spent decades aiming to 'green' its roads and infrastructure, transforming the country's parks and gardens into spaces welcome for everyone to enjoy, and setting aside areas of core biodiversity to conserve Singapore's native biodiversity. As Singapore continually transitions into a City of Nature, a biophilic design approach is important in restoring habitats and ensuring that the wider community is engaged in sustaining the national greening efforts.

Today, Singapore is one of the greenest cities in the world. The lush urban greenery that we have is a result of sustained and dedicated efforts to green up Singapore over the past few decades." – Damian Tang, Senior Director/Design, National Parks Board

Following challenges like extreme weather patterns induced by climate change and increased urbanization, there is an evergrowing demand to build a more liveable, sustainable, and climate-resilient Singapore for present and future generations. National Parks Board also runs over 3,500 educational programs across their various green spaces which are key in enabling the community a closer experience of nature and in promoting mental wellbeing. Tang shares that the City in Nature vision is the country's next bound of urban planning:

“At National Parks Board, we have five key strategies to transform Singapore into a City in Nature: conserving and extending Singapore’s natural capital; intensifying nature in gardens and parks; restoring nature into the urban landscape; strengthening connectivity between Singapore’s green spaces; developing excellence in veterinary care, animal and wildlife management.” – Damian Tang, Senior Director/Design, National Parks Board

As of today, almost half of Singapore's land is covered in green space and many of its citizens benefitted from the use of the implemented parks during the lockdowns that were most notable during the height of the pandemic, acting as green lungs, inviting the opportunity breathing and exercising space within a dense city environment.

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#ChallengeAccepted Singapore's Urban Planning

As a small city-state with limited land, Singapore doesn’t have the luxury of space for all our different needs. How might we cram in more homes, schools, hospitals, offices, industries, transport for more people? How do we balance building facilities with preserving nature? And how do we account for changes the future can bring?

We look ahead, and plan. #ChallengeAccepted

Singapore’s urban planning approach takes the long view, with both the Long Term Plan (formerly known as Concept Plan) and the Master Plan.

The Long Term Plan provides broad strategies for Singapore’s physical development over the next 40-50 years, so that we can meet our population and development needs. Previous versions have set out Singapore’s critical infrastructure like our MRT system and airport, and developed the strategy for Jurong Island.

On the other hand, the Master Plan digs into the details. It’s reviewed once every five years, and focuses on specific plots of land to guide Singapore’s development over the next 10-15 years. For example, the 2003 Master Plan announced the Southern Ridges, which would link the Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill, and Kent Ridge.

In Apr 2019, then-Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said, “space will always be a constraint on our little island. But through human ingenuity, we can come up with innovative ways to overcome our space constraints — by optimising land use.” And build a Singapore that is liveable and enjoyable for all.

Check out URA’s latest 50-year plan here .

Visit ConnexionSG Facebook & Instagram

Format Brief City Singapore Metro Area Singapore Location Type Central Business District Land Uses Entertainment Hotel Mixed Residential Open space Retail Skating Rink Keywords Accessible transportation network Education Garden Gathering space Light show Outdoor activities Public art Revitalization ULI Urban Open Space Award 2015 Finalist Waterfront promenade Site Size 140 acres acres hectares Date Started 1970 Date Opened 2010

A brief is a short version of a case study.

Located at the heart of Singapore’s city center, against the backdrop of its signature skyline, Marina Bay presents an exciting array of opportunities for living, working, and playing. A successful example of Singapore’s long-term planning, the larger Marina Bay area was progressively reclaimed over a 40-year period starting in the 1970s. The central business district was seamlessly extended, and a new city center was created around an urban waterfront. This development aligns with Singapore’s plan for continued growth as a business and financial hub by raising the city-state’s international profile while stimulating growth and investment.

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Project Owner Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore

Project Designer Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore

Project Website marina-bay.sg

Principal Author(s) Kathleen Carey, Daniel Lobo, Kathryn Craig, Steven Gu, Kelsey Padgham, James Mulligan, David James Rose, Betsy Van Buskirk, Anne Morgan, Craig Chapman

Source Transformative Urban Open Space http://uli.org/awards/transformative-urban-open-space/

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, silver cities: planning for an ageing population in singapore. an urban planning policy case study of kampung admiralty.

Archnet-IJAR

ISSN : 2631-6862

Article publication date: 25 April 2022

Issue publication date: 6 June 2022

This paper explores ways in which Singapore adapts its planning policy and practices to meet the needs of its growing silver population, particularly the relationship between ageing related policies and its urban development strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

The research assesses Singapore's urban planning policies for the ageing population against the WHO framework for age-friendly cities using Kampung Admiralty (KA) (a pioneering project of integrated housing cum community for the ageing population) as a case study for the analysis. The methodology adopted includes a post-occupancy evaluation and a walking tour of the selected case study (Kampung Admiralty), and an analysis of Singapore's ageing policies in relation to urban planning governance.

The study examines the role and significance of a multi-agency collaborative governance structure in ageing planning policies with diverse stakeholders in the project. The evaluation carried out on KA reveals the challenges and opportunities in urbanisation planning for the ageing population. This paper concludes by emphasising the potential of multi-collaborative governance and policymaking in creating an inclusive, liveable built environment for the ageing population in Singapore, particularly but also potential implications for other ASEAN tropical cities.

Practical implications

The case study identified key issues in Singapore's urban planning for betterment in ageing and highlighted the requirement for enhancing urban planning strategies.

Originality/value

This article fulfils an identified need for the Singapore government to address the issue of ageing by providing affordable and silver-friendly housing to its ageing population.

• Ageing population
• Inclusive urban planning
• Kampung Admiralty
• Silver cities

Acknowledgements

The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors. This research was supported by the JCUA and JCUS cross-collaboration scheme #IRG20200016. The authors would also like to express their thanks to Pedro Santa Rivera for his comments and review on Kampung Admiralty's planning policy and Prince Sultan University for their support.

Azzali, S. , Yew, A.S.Y. , Wong, C. and Chaiechi, T. (2022), "Silver cities: planning for an ageing population in Singapore. An urban planning policy case study of Kampung Admiralty", Archnet-IJAR , Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 281-306. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARCH-09-2021-0252

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Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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Singapore: An Integrated Multi-scale Urban Microclimate Model for Urban Planning in Singapore

• First Online: 01 January 2022

Cite this chapter

• Tian Kuay Lim 9 ,
• Nyuk Hien Wong 10 ,
• Marcel Ignatius 10 ,
• Miguel Martin 11 ,
• Hann-Ming Henry Juang 12 ,
• Jing Lou 13 &
• Robert Lee Kong Tiong 14  

Part of the book series: Biometeorology ((BIOMET,volume 5))

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The urban heat island (UHI) is one of the most critical issues for dense urban environments, as high outdoor temperatures and poor wind flow in high-density built-up areas can have negative impacts on the thermal comfort and health of city dwellers by trapping air pollutants and increasing energy demand for artificial cooling. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports recognized the potential impacts of climate change on cities. With global warming, an increased frequency of heat waves and the severity will certainly amplify the current problems associated with UHI effects and heat-related illnesses (HRI) in a highly dense urban environment.

This chapter showcases how an Integrated Multi-scale Environmental Urban Model (IMEUM) can be useful for building professionals, city planners, and policymakers in their decision-making related to minimizing the environmental impact due to continuously changing dense urban environment. The concept originates by downscaling environmental models from global scale (25 km) to a site-specific parcel or building. IMEUM provides a computationally efficient method which couples multi-scale atmospheric models with statistical model and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) to estimate weather parameters. IMEUM can be applied to integrate various UHI and heat-related illnesses mitigation measures at the early stage of design process.

This chapter also showcases the IMEUM calibration by means of ground sensing. Furthermore, a series of case studies of a hypothetical office building and the microclimate simulation is provided to illustrate how the simulation output can be fully converted into a localized weather data file for cooling load simulation. These results consequently can be used for urban microclimate on heat-related illnesses impact assessment. IMEUM is part of integrated quantitative urban environment simulation tool (QUEST), a platform for analysing and testing the immediate microclimatic impact of development plans and assessing their long-term impacts under future climate change scenarios.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank members of the staff at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for the support of this work. Lim Tian Kuay also wish to thank Mr. Ronnie Tay (former CEO, NEA), Mr. Richard Hoo (URA), Dr. Raj Thampuran (Surbana Jurong) and Dr. Vijay Tallapragada (NOAA’s NCEP/EMC) for their support and encouragement. We also wish to thank Dr. Chew Kian Hoe and Dr. Stefan Ma for their comments on the heat-related illnesses.

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Lim, T.K. et al. (2021). Singapore: An Integrated Multi-scale Urban Microclimate Model for Urban Planning in Singapore. In: Ren, C., McGregor, G. (eds) Urban Climate Science for Planning Healthy Cities. Biometeorology, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87598-5_9

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International Case Studies of Smart Cities: Singapore, Republic of Singapore

Building a Liveable City: Urban Planning and Real Estate

2 July 2019

Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director, Centre for Liveable Cities, Ministry of National Development | Past Chair, ULI Singapore [This article was first published in CLC Insights]

Since the 1960s, Singapore has been transformed from an overcrowded urban slum into one of the world’s most liveable cities, with a population density that has almost tripled. Urban planning — so vital in building the city — also impacted the real estate industry. How can the industry become more proactive in shaping Singapore’s future? This question can be explored through the four main phases of how urban planning and real estate development have evolved together over the decades.

Four phases of how Singapore has evolved since the 1960s. Source: CLC

1960s to 1970s: Land for Urban Redevelopment and Basic Infrastructure

In the 1960s, faced with overcrowded slums and fragmented land ownership, the government’s top priority was solving the chronic, very serious housing problem and ensuring enough land for new towns and urban renewal. With a successful public housing programme, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) built some 50,000 flats in its first five years, more than the 23,000 flats built by the former Singapore Improvement Trust since 1927.*

Land Acquisition

Then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in a parliamentary debate, outlined two broad principles for amending legislation on land acquisition: (1) No private landowner should benefit from development at public expense; and (2) Prices paid on acquisition for public purposes should not be higher than what the land would have been worth otherwise. “Increases in land values, because of public development, should not benefit the landowner, but should benefit the community at large,”^ he said.

Hence, the Land Acquisition Act was amended in 1966 to strengthen government powers to acquire land, and to limit compensation. Much of the land the government now owns was acquired by development agencies: HDB for housing, JTC for industrial estates, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for the Central Area, Public Utilities Board for utilities, Port of Singapore Authority for the port and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore for the airport. From 1960 to 2007, land owned by the public sector doubled from 44 per cent to over 85 per cent.

Concept Plan 1971 outlining Singapore’s urban structure for a modern city and safeguarding land for development Source: URA

Land Planning

Once the government became the biggest landowner, it began building new towns and redeveloping the Central Area comprehensively and rapidly. A United Nations Development Programme team, working with a young team of planners, architects and engineers here, drew up the Concept Plan in 1971 after four years of study — Singapore’s first strategic land use and transport blueprint for the urban structure of a modern city.

The real estate industry, quite small then, did not play a significant role in Singapore’s development. The government was nevertheless concerned that, with higher zoning and plot ratios, owners of private developments would enjoy excessive profits. Hence, the development charge, a betterment tax, was introduced and conscientiously implemented. This was unlike in Britain, where the idea came from, as a lack of political consensus there restricted its implementation.

The urban planning system then was inherited from the colonial-era Town Planning Act, and a 1958 master plan too rigid and inappropriate for a rapidly growing Singapore. Based on the Concept Plan, agencies drew up their own plans for HDB towns, JTC industrial parks, URA’s Central Area plans and other infrastructure plans. The Planning Department’s main task was to ensure that land was carefully safeguarded for new towns, the Central Area, roads, and subway and utility reserves.

1970s to 1980s: Building the City in Partnership with the Private Sector

The task of urban renewal now began in earnest, as URA became planner and master developer of the Central Business District.

The key person responsible was Alan Choe, my first boss at URA, a young, dynamic architect-planner who learnt a lot about urban renewal in the West, especially from the Boston Redevelopment Authority. He adopted some of Boston’s methods, wisely adapted to suit Singapore. As an architect, he developed very detailed urban design guidelines for places like Shenton Way, Golden Shoe District, the Orchard Road belt and the Golden Mile strip.

URA Sale of Sites Source: URA , Changing the face of Singapore through the URA sale of sites, 1995, Pg 5

What distinguished Singapore’s approach from many other cities was how the private sector was involved to implement the plan through URA’s Sale of Sites programme (now the Government Land Sales programme). It was creatively conceived to involve developers through a transparent tender process. As long as developers built according to guidelines, they had no problem obtaining planning approval. To attract bidders, incentives such as property tax concessions as well as financing through a 10-year instalment plan were given. All these significantly derisked projects by reducing uncertainty and approval time.

However, even with these incentives, businessmen had to be persuaded to delve into the risky business of real estate. Choe told of how he had to call on business people like S.P. Tao, a shipping tycoon then, to tender for URA sites. Choe had to sell the new city vision, how the government would make it happen in partnership with the private sector, with URA providing the planning vision and guidance, putting in infrastructure and coordinating overall development as master developer.

This was Singapore’s Public-Private-Partnership approach to urban renewal. The approach quickly gained confidence among developers risking their capital, who saw the tremendous upside of helping to build a rapidly growing city.

The sale of sites programme was a key instrument to encourage certain types of development, such as offices for financial institutions, shopping, entertainment and hotels along Orchard Road and the Havelock Road belt. It also promoted high-density living, with a new housing typology in high-rise condominiums with green spaces and community facilities based on planning guidelines.

Again, Choe, as an architect, introduced the idea of awarding sites by giving design very serious consideration. For developers, the stakes became so high that they hired top international architects like I.M. Pei (Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Building), Kenzo Tange (Overseas Union Bank Centre), Paul Rudolph (Concourse) and John Portman (Marina Square).

OCBC Building I.M. Pei

OUB Centre Kenzo Tange

Concourse Paul Rudolph

Marina Square John Portman

At that time, URA’s guidelines were not publicised, so there was uncertainty over planning requirements. This lack of transparency made public officials susceptible to corrupt practices. Property had a boom-and-bust market, with the government releasing more land during periods of boom and withholding sales when prices fell. Attractive financial incentives also created a volatile market.

Things came to a head, and Member of Parliament Tan Soo Khoon, in a famous speech in 1986, called the property market a “casino”, with URA as “banker”. This was after a property market crash when some developers could not find funds to continue development, and returned the sites to URA undeveloped. A Cabinet minister committed suicide when investigated by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

The new city was being built in partnership with the private sector, but the planning system needed to catch up. These events prompted a serious overhaul of the planning regime when S. Dhanabalan took over as National Development Minister in 1987.

1990s to 2000s: Building a City of Character

Changes to the planning system.

The changes were quite sweeping, making the system more open, transparent and stable. I was part of the team that brought about many of these changes, as MND’s first Director of Strategic Planning, working closely with Lim Hng Kiang, then Deputy Secretary.

URA took on a clearer role as planner and regulator, and no longer as developer. It returned most of its land holdings. Zoning was simplified and plot ratio calculations streamlined with the abolition of net floor area, so that only one parameter, gross floor area, was used. This removed a lot of administrative effort and uncertainty under the old regime. A team led by MND created what is now known as the development charge table, which tells developers upfront what they must pay.

Headline ‘Developers give up two URA land parcels’ Source: Singapore Monitor, 28 April 1984 Full article here

Headline ‘Option for Pontiac to revive Rahardja Centre project’ Source: Times, 3 Aug 1989

With the new transparency, the real estate industry began to attract international capital, and new instruments like Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which were pioneered by Singapore in this region, resulted in a more mature and sophisticated capital market.

All financial incentives for sale of sites were withdrawn as, by now, the banking and finance industry had the confidence and expertise to finance development. Land was released in a steady stream rather than along with market vagaries.

However, a surplus of capital internationally and Singapore being seen as a safe haven meant that the government had to periodically intervene, especially in the residential property market, with cooling measures.

The 1991 Concept Plan — unveiled as “ Living the Next Lap ” — envisaged building a northeast corridor and decentralising with regional and subregional centres. The master plan became a forward-looking and public plan with the introduction of Development Guide Plans (DGPs), which clearly expressed planning intentions for 55 DGP areas, with clear zoning, plot ratios and other detailed urban design guidelines, so that developers knew exactly what they were allowed to build.

A Liveable and Sustainable City

There was also a continuing focus on building a liveable, sustainable city of character.

There began in the late 1980s a strong emphasis on retaining built heritage. URA did extensive surveys of historic areas, and drew up a conservation master plan and strategy which involved URA becoming the conservation authority, setting guidelines for conserving buildings, gazetting buildings and districts, and bringing in the private sector, again using the sale of sites mechanism. Projects such as Clarke Quay, Bugis Junction and Chijmes were sold, as were many shophouses in Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam.

The Singapore River master plan saw the creation of a district of old warehouses adaptively reused for shopping, offices, hotels and homes, juxtaposed with modern buildings. New modes of sale were experimented with, such as auctions, the two-envelope system, and fixed land prices for the two integrated resort projects. The Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) was sold using an option pricing method to reduce development risk, as the objective was to sell a big piece of land for master development by the private sector.

Clover By The Park condominium next to Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters features at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Source: littledayout.com

To advance sustainability and make the city greener and more liveable, more emphasis was placed on promoting Green Mark buildings and high-rise greenery. The Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters programme saw strong interest in creating water projects, which commanded a premium. Projects along the waterway in Punggol Eco-town all began to include variations of “water” in their names.

The sale of sites programme was also used to promote sustainable green buildings, with sites sold by tender being required to achieve a minimum Green Mark in selected strategic areas such as Marina Bay, Jurong Lake District, Kallang Riverside, Paya Lebar Central, Woodlands Regional Centre and Punggol Eco-town. Today, sites in strategic areas are required to be designed and built using the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly and Building Information Modelling systems.

As Singapore has come a long way as a well-planned, liveable and sustainable city, the real estate industry, now highly sophisticated and professional, also continues to innovate.

The transparency of a forward-looking master plan also gave rise to a new phenomenon of en-bloc development, flourishing especially during market upcycles, as owners of strata titles and even landed properties banded together to sell their properties for redevelopment. This helped to realise the master plan, while government policy facilitated this with lower thresholds of ownership.

WHAT’S NEXT?

But what’s next for Singapore — how will the city develop? How should we plan for it? How can the real estate industry help to shape the future?

Continuous Building, and Draft Master Plan 2019

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said, “we are not done building Singapore yet”.** There are many exciting new opportunities at Marina Bay, Greater Southern Waterfront, Jurong Lake District and, further down the line, Paya Lebar when the airbase is closed. Exhibitions on these plans, such as the one on the draft 2019 Master Plan at the URA Centre, will help people understand the challenges of building a liveable and sustainable city with all its constraints. While some precious greenery will be developed, many new ideas such as nature parks will more than replace the losses. To face new challenges, Singapore has to continue to innovate systemically, like before.

Challenges for Singapore

What are these new challenges?

Climate change, changing demographics (especially ageing and a more diverse society), rapid technological change, social media, lifestyle trends towards co-working, co-living, a sharing economy with ride-sharing, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and big data.

Beyond the Master Plan, in order to solve the problems these challenges will bring, and create new opportunities, more systemic ideas are needed. For example, building a city in nature, or a city for all ages.

But what is the role of the real estate industry? For universities, research and education in urban systems is critical. Singapore has built up a significant store of knowledge, which should be shared, and used to create new knowledge. Our universities are actively undertaking urban systems research with CLC and other agencies with studio projects such as in Tampines, one-north, and Orchard Road. The National University of Singapore (NUS) is rather proud that its real estate department is just about the only one in the world that is part of the architecture and urban planning school rather than the business school.

CapitaLand-CDL Joint Venture for Prime Site in Sengkang Centre. Source: CapitaLand Limited (2019). CapitaLand-CDL joint venture wins prime site in Sengkang Central

Involvement of Other Stakeholders

But what role can developers and real estate financial institutions play in shaping the city? I sense that the industry is beginning to take a much broader view of their role. URA has received strong support for its Business Improvement Districts pilot schemes, where property owners come together to do place management for neighbourhoods. Orchard Road Business Association is active in reshaping Orchard Road. Developers are becoming master developers, rather than being led by government. In Sengkang, CapitaLand and City Developments Limited are building an integrated commercial-cum-community development including a community centre and hawker centre.

CLC and URA sponsored the Urban Land Institute (ULI), an international organisation of real estate professionals, to bring in an international panel to give views on how the private sector can participate in Jurong Lake District . This intensive process included interviewing 60 industry professionals from government, the private sector and academia. New forms of partnership are developing between the public and private sectors.

Internationally, the industry is spreading its wings. Companies are doing city master planning in Asia, Africa and Middle East. Singapore has major integrated city and township projects in Suzhou, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Amaravati. To offer an integrated package, it is also essential to involve smaller companies and other parts of the real estate value chain, such as legal and financial services.

Infrastructure Asia was set up by Enterprise Singapore to promote Singapore as an infrastructure finance hub. There is good potential for the industry to grow, as the region is urbanising very rapidly and the need for well-planned, liveable cities is urgent. Singapore is often looked upon as a model, but how can we better “sell” brand Singapore and public and private sector expertise as an integrated package?

Singapore was built primarily by public sector agencies in the earlier years. Later, the private sector became an active partner, producing a boom period. This was followed by a period of putting in place a good urban planning system and building a highly sophisticated real estate industry.

Can Singapore now become a global hub to take to the world this new partnership between the private and public sectors in creating urban systems solutions? That is our collective challenge.

* Savage, Victor, and Eng Teo. “Singapore Landscape: A Historical Overview of Housing Change.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, vol. 6, no. 1, 1985.

^ Singapore Parliamentary Debates. (10 June 1964). Vol. 23, Col. 25. See also observations by then-P.M. Lee Kuan Yew and then Minister for Law and National Development E. W. Barker during the second and third readings of the Land Acquisition (Amendment No 2) Bill in 1964-66 and Singapore Parliamentary Debates. (16 June 1965). Vol. 23, Col. 811; and (26 October 1966). Vol 25. Col 410.

** Lee, Hsien Loong. “National Day Message 2018.” Prime Minister’s Office Singapore, Prime Minister’s Office Singapore, 8 Aug. 2018, www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/national-daymessage-2018.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Choy Chan Pong and Kwek Sian Choo for their inputs; as well as Phua Shi Hui for research assistance, Koh Buck Song for editing the text and Ng Yong Yi for layout design. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the Ministry of National Development. If you would like to provide feedback on this article, please contact [email protected] .

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Sustainable cities: innovative urban planning in Singapore

Cities present a sustainability conundrum: though they are the most efficient way to provide infrastructure and services for large populations, they are, in absolute terms, incredibly inefficient.

Cities cover just 2% of the Earth's surface yet consume about 75% of the world's resources, and given that more of the world's population now live in cities than in rural areas, it's clear they are key to tackling climate change and reducing resource use.

Urban administrators face huge challenges to make cities more sustainable. From traffic jams and inefficient buildings to social inequality and housing, the problems are complex and hard to tackle — but not insurmountable.

Some cities are forging ahead with the use of innovative urban planning, technological and governance models, showing that with the right focus and resources, cities can become "smart" or more sustainable.

According to the latest Siemens' Green City Index for Asia , Singapore is the best-performing city in the region when measured against a range of sustainability criteria.

"Singapore is at the leading edge of sustainability," says Nicholas You, chairman of the World Urban Campaign Steering Committee at UN-Habitat . "It's an island state with limited resources so it had no choice but to go green if it wanted to survive economically."

Singapore's experiences have important lessons for other urban centres. Take its water treatment. In 1963, water functionality was shared between multiple ministries and agencies, which made it difficult to formulate a coordinated, long-term strategy.

With a rising population and finite freshwater resources, action was needed, so ministers set up a national water agency, PUB, which became the sole body responsible for the collection, production, distribution and reclamation of water in the city.

Today, its water operation has been transformed. Two thirds of Singapore's land surface is now a water catchment area with water stored in 17 reservoirs, including the Marina Basin, right in the heart of the city.

Called NEWater, wastewater is collected and treated to produce water that's good enough to drink. This meets 30% of the city's water needs, a target that will be increased to 50% of future needs by 2060.

Earlier this year, Siemens was contracted to identify CO2 reduction opportunities in transport, residential and non-industrial buildings, and IT/communications in the Tampines district.

As part of the city's plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030, Siemens will report back in 2013 with implementation costs, a plan to implement the changes and the design of pilots to trail three technological solutions.

"This will be a good test-bed for new technologies to prove what we can do," says Dr Roland Busch, Siemens' CEO of infrastructure and cities sector. "It's a way to demonstrate in the highly competitive environment that is Singapore, that we can bring energy efficiency to the next level in addressing all the basic needs of cities."

EDF and Veolia recently signed an agreement with Singapore's Housing Development Board (HDB), the city-state's largest developer, to develop software that will help it develop sustainable, urban planning solutions in HDB towns.

ForCity will simulate the built environment of a city and its impact on resources, the environment, people and intervention costs to help the HDB make its towns function more efficiently and become more pleasant to live in. The tool will be trialed in the Jurong East district of Singapore.

Transport is another sector that has seen investment recently. On an island of 4.8 million people with limited space, moving people around as efficiently as possible is key to its economic viability. A decade ago, city administrators warned that congestion could cost Singapore's economy $2-3bn a year if transport infrastructure was not improved.

Then, there were two separate transport-charging systems in the city: road tolls and public transport, including the metro and buses. But since 2009, after a series of smart card innovations, people have been able to use e-Symphony, an IBM-designed payment card that can be used to pay for road tolls, bus travel, taxis, the metro, and even shopping.

The card can process 20 million fare transactions a day and collects extensive traffic data, allowing city administrators to constantly tweak routes to ensure the most efficient journeys and minimise congestion.

All these measures combine to make Singapore a smarter city. "What we have done is to research and try to distill the principles for Singapore's success in sustainable urban development – we call it a liveability framework," says Khoo Teng Chye, executive director at the Centre for Liveable Cities based in Singapore.

"Quality of life, environmental sustainability and competitive economics. These are the components that make cities liveable."

As the competition for resources increases and cities expand to accommodate rising populations, even those without the geographic constraints of Singapore will have to embrace smart city principles. If they don't, they will lose out financially, unable to attract businesses and talent from cities that do. The planet simply can't sustain current levels of resource use and environmental degradation. It's not a choice; cities have to change.

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Case Study of a Modern Day Eden – Singapore

“ Almost all of Singapore is less than 30 years old, the city represents the ideological production of the past three decades in its pure form, uncontaminated by surviving contextual remnants. It is managed by a regime that has excluded accident and randomness; even its nature is entirely remade. It is pure intention: if there is chaos, it is authored chaos; if it is ugly, it is designed ugliness; if it is absurd, it is willed absurdity. Singapore represents a unique ecology of the contemporary. ”

(Rem Koolhaas, Thirty years of Tabula Rasa, 1995)

Singapore, founded as a trading post by the British East India Company in 1819, has evolved and transformed into a flourishing nation with urban planning which is regarded by many as the plan for a ‘model city’. It is a forward-thinking approach that allows flexibility to accommodate future developments while being sustainable and environmentally conscious. Singapore, the young city-state has a relatively small area of approximately 712 sq.kms. almost all of which is urbanized supporting a melting pot of various cultural ethnicities ranging from Chinese migrants, the Malay, and a strong Indian population. The size and context of the development of Singapore post-colonialism, provide the ideal stage for the manifestations of the ‘tabula rasa’ planning approach. A concept illustrated by cities like New York wherein the grid is superimposed on the city and is all-consuming. The planning of Singapore began with the conception of a Concept Plan meant to serve as a guide for the next 40 years of development, punctuated by the decadal Master Plan which provided detailed accounts and revisions to the overall vision. Envisioned as a ‘garden city’, with cleanness and green-ness at its heart, Singapore’s main planning body, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) began a green initiative to soften the effects of rapid urbanization by extensive afforestation and nature conservation.

With a determination to achieve perfection, the approach to create a new identity for Singapore, the focus was laid on tackling the issues of housing, increasing tourism, amalgamating all the functional and administrative infrastructure of a nation within the folds of a city; all while avoiding the perils and chaos of democracy, led to the creation of this hypermodern, urban city; with towering buildings overlooking planned vistas, micro-schemes creating mixed-use- work, live and play environments like Marina Bay and this deliberate urbanization replacing the old remnants of the low-rise city, erasing it from existence. All the while, ignoring the notion that spatial stratification often leads to social stratification. A deceptively simple term, ‘urban renewal’ allowed the governing bodies in Singapore to set the course for this city-state to emerge as this unique urban haven. While urban renewal initially envisioned a tripartite system of conservation, rehabilitation, and rebuilding; its manifestation in Singapore has taken on its own interpretation. The transition began with the unification of the island land from two typologies, hinterland, and town; into one cohesive base to serve as the site for the envisioned metropolis. The amendment to the Land Acquisition Act which allowed the government to acquire any land it deemed necessary for national development purposes further aided the agenda to create a new Singapore under the premise of urban renewal. This led to the systematic removal of the older developments, which were often deemed ‘squalor’ to hasten the process of renewal and slowly but surely ‘New Town’ grew over the entire landscape of Singapore culminating in the global city we see today. The architecture of the city has abandoned the humanist approach, with megastructures like the People’s Park Centre which dismantled part of the old Chinatown to create a new towering complex with a 20-storey apartment block, 10,000 meters square of offices, over 300 shops; all connected with pedestrian bridges to ensure continuity and connectivity. The project is best described in the words of Rem Koolhaas as, “ a tropical version of Malevich’s Architectons: prismatic rectangular volumes of naked concrete assembled with apparent casualness”. Another development, the 22-storey Golden Mile Tower perpetuates the monolithic megastructure ideal.

The ‘tabula rasa’ planning approach has successfully removed the last vestiges of the old Singapore; it is a picture-perfect city. A city without the grim, grit and cracks which often punctuates one’s cityscape and grounds them to the realities, instead the view is of a pristine façade. Today, one of the most expensive cities to live in, Singapore offers modern infrastructure, smooth transportation nodes, an extensive park network; in short, achieves excellence but lacks authenticity, it lacks true character at its core. It is an experimental lab that could be placed anywhere in the world and it would fit. Traditional Japanese aesthetics have an appreciation for an element of ‘Wabi-Sabi’, a worldview that appreciates the inherent imperfections in the matter; achieving the ideal city, a modern-day Eden fails to account for the humanist aesthetic. It creates a prison of perfections, where all beauty is created to observe and not discern and is guided and enforced by strict laws.

Asis Kaur, a student of Architecture with an inquisitive outlook, striving to curate her jumble of constant thoughts and ideas of architecture into a succinct composition.

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