New towns of Singapore

The new town planning concept was introduced into Singapore with the building of the first new town of Singapore, Queenstown, from July 1952 to 1973 by the country's public housing authority, the Housing and Development Board. Today, the vast majority of the approximately 11,000 public housing buildings are organised into 23 towns and 3 estates[1] across the country.

The new towns in Singapore are large scale satellite housing developments which are designed to be self contained. It includes public housing units, a town centre and other amenities.[2] Helmed by a hierarchy of commercial developments, ranging from a town centre to precinct-level outlets, there is no need to venture out of town to meet the most common needs of residences. Employment can be found in industrial estates located within several towns. Educational, health care, and recreational needs are also taken care of with the provision of schools, hospitals, parks, sports complexes, and so on.

Singapore's expertise in successful new town design was internationally recognised when the Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) of the United Nations awarded the World Habitat Award to Tampines Town, which was selected as a representative of Singapore's new towns, on 5 October 1992.[3]

Background

The Singapore of the 1950s contained a city centre surrounded by slums and squatter colonies. By the time Singapore attained self government in 1959, the problem of housing shortage had grown. Combined with a fast population growth, it led to congestion and squalor.[4] The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) had been previously set up by the colonial government to solve the housing shortage. Although it built around 23000 dwelling units, it was not sufficient for the rapidly increasing population.

In 1958, the first Master Plan was formulated which recommend redistributing the population from the central area of the city to new towns in the suburbs. The SIT was dissolved in 1959 and subsequently, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) was set up in 1960 to deal with the problem.[5]

Towns

These statistics reflect the boundaries of HDB towns and are not necessarily the same as planning area statistics.[6]

Name (English/Malay) Chinese Pinyin Tamil Total area (km2) Residential area (km2) Dwelling units Projected ultimate Population
Ang Mo Kio 宏茂桥 hóngmàoqiáo ஆங் மோ கியோ 6.38 2.83 49,169 58,000 149,800
Bedok 勿洛 wùluò பிடோ 9.37 4.18 60,115 79,000 204,300
Bishan 碧山 bìshān பீஷான் 6.90 1.72 19,664 34,000 65,700
Bukit Batok 武吉巴督 wǔjíbādū புக்கிட் பாத்தோக் 7.85 2.91 32,275 53,000 113,800
Bukit Merah 红山 hóngshān புக்கிட் மேரா 8.58 3.12 51,885 68,000 147,000
Bukit Panjang 武吉班让 wǔjíbānràng புக்கிட் பாஞ்சாங் 4.89 2.19 34,463 44,000 119,300
Choa Chu Kang 蔡厝港 càicuògǎng சுவா சூ காங் 5.83 3.07 42,393 62,000 161,100
Clementi 金文泰 jīnwéntài கிளிமெண்டி 4.12 2.03 25,480 39,000 72,500
Geylang 芽笼 yálóng கேலாங் 6.78 2.14 29,256 49,000 91,900
Hougang 后港 hòugǎng ஹவ்காங் 13.09 3.67 51,646 72,000 179,800
Jurong East 裕廊东 yùlángdōng ஜூரோங் 3.84 1.65 23,379 30,000 80,300
Jurong West 裕廊西 yùlángxī ஜூரோங் 9.87 4.80 71,755 94,000 260,000
Kallang/Whampoa 加冷／黄浦 jiālĕng/huángpǔ காலாங் 7.99 2.10 35,740 57,000 105,500
Pasir Ris 巴西立 bāxīlì பாசிர் ரிஸ் 6.01 3.18 29,207 44,000 111,000
Punggol 榜鵝 bǎng'é – 9.57 3.74 35,515 96,000 99,500
Queenstown 女皇镇 nǚhuángzhèn குவீன்ஸ்டவுன் 6.94 2.10 30,546 60,000 82,100

Sembawang

 三巴旺 sānbāwàng – 7.08 3.31 20,311 65,000 71,600
Sengkang 盛港 shènggǎng செங்காங 10.55 3.97 59,497 92,000 186,500
Serangoon 实龙岗 shílónggāng சிராங்கூன் 7.37 1.63 21,293 30,000 73,000
Tampines 淡滨尼 dànbīnní தெம்பினிஸ் 12.00 5.49 66,599 110,000 239,100
Toa Payoh 大巴窑 dàbāyáo தோ பயோ 5.56 2.48 36,439 61,000 107,500
Woodlands 兀兰 wùlán ஜூரோங் 11.98 4.80 62,675 98,000 243,100
Yishun 义顺 yìshùn – 7.78 3.98 56,698 84,000 186,600

Estates

These statistics reflect the boundaries of HDB estates and are not necessarily the same as planning area statistics.[6]

Name (English/Malay) Chinese Pinyin Tamil Dwelling units Population
Bukit Timah 武吉知马 – புக்கித் திமா 2,423 88,000
Marine Parade 马林百列 – மரின் பரேட் 6,537 34,300
Central Area 新加坡中區 – சிங்கப்பூர் மாவட்ட 9,459 23,300

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/about-us/history
  2. ↑ Wong, Maisy (July 2014). "Estimating the distortionary effects of ethnic quotas in Singapore using housing transactions". Journal of Public Economics. 115: 131–145. doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.04.006. (subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ Building Social Housing Foundation, Tampines Town, accessed 19 Mar 2007.
  4. ↑ Field, Brian (1992-01-01). "Singapore's New Town prototype: a textbook prescription?". Habitat International. 16 (3): 89–101. doi:10.1016/0197-3975(92)90066-8. (subscription required (help)).
  5. ↑ Tuan Seik, Foo (2001-02-01). "Planning and design of Tampines, an award-winning high-rise, high-density township in Singapore". Cities. 18 (1): 33–42. doi:10.1016/S0264-2751(00)00052-4. (subscription required (help)).
  6. 1 2 HDB Key Statistics FY 2014/2015
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