[Primer] land use

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L This week’s question(part 1 of 10): If you werein Government, what threeenvironmental issues wouldyou tackle in the next fiveyears? Why?

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ThoughtLeadershipQuestion

By GRACE CHUA

SINGAPORE is not unique: not inits ambition to be a leading globalcity, not in its size constraints, orin its diversity and the tensionsthat result when people from allbackgrounds rub shoulders withone another.

But it has tried to manage itsland use in some unusual ways,such as reclaiming a large percent-age of its land area, going under-ground, and making every patchof land work harder.

Turning marshes or sea to solidland is one of Singapore’s oldestmethods of creating more landarea.

Since the 1960s, Singapore hasadded more than 100 sq km, or asixth of its original size – fivetimes the size of the greater Tam-pines area.

The industrial Jurong Islanditself is made up of seven smallerislands stitched together byreclamation, and at 32 sq km it islarger than Singapore’s fourgazetted nature reserves put to-gether.

Today, the Government’s LandUse Plan proposes future reclama-tion along northern and southerncoastlines and islands from PulauTekong to Pulau Hantu, thoughenvironment groups are con-cerned this could affect marine bi-odiversity.

Land reclamation also has a lim-it: Filling in greater sea depthstakes more sand and is more cost-ly. Along the southern coast, re-claiming land farther out to seawould also begin to interfere withshipping lanes.

Singapore also puts some func-tions underground, particularlythose that would otherwise takeup too much valuable surfaceland.

Since 2008, the military hasstored ammunition beneath a dis-used Mandai quarry, while the Ju-rong Rock Cavern is being built tostore crude oil and other petrole-um products.

Critical infrastructure like pow-er cables, MRT lines, the DeepTunnel Sewerage System, and theCommon Services Tunnel under

Marina Bay are also beneath thesurface, and there are theoreticalproposals and studies for housingpower plants, water treatment,waste incineration and even nucle-ar energy underground.

Finally, it is trying to squeezeas much use from every piece ofland.

The western Tengeh reservoirwill get floating solar panels in apilot project to tap the sun’senergy for electricity, while com-munity farms in Bukit Panjangand Clementi serve as recreation

areas and a food source.Even roads could be put to bet-

ter use.Last month, in a Budget debate

in Parliament, Transport MinisterLui Tuck Yew said the LandTransport Authority was studyingthe feasibility of a “reversibleflow” traffic scheme for some are-as where heavy traffic is one-di-rectional at different times of theday, such as the stretch betweenthe Kranji Expressway and thePan Island Expressway.GRACE CHUA

SINGAPORE, like manyother cities, is heavilyplanned, and replanned.

It has a long historyof planning, from the

Raffles Town Plan of 1822 to theSingapore Improvement Trustpre-independence, and then theState and City Planning Project of1967 to provide adequate housingand employment.

The scope of city planning hasgrown even further.

In its most recent Land UsePlan released earlier this year, theGovernment laid out its vision forhousing, transport infrastructure,commerce and industry, andparks and reserves till 2030.

But some of these plans havedrawn both cheers and criticism.

For example, environment andheritage groups have expressedconcerns that Singapore is chip-ping away at its green and historicspaces.

And in Parliament, NominatedMember of Parliament FaizahJamal expressed worry that aproposed MRT line through theCentral Catchment NatureReserve would affect wildlifethere.

It is one thing to develop landuse plans that meet basic needs,but quite another to create a senseof “place” or identity whichdraws people to a city.

Around the world, cities aretrying to balance economicgrowth, the needs of a growingpopulation, and conserving thespaces which give a city itsidentity.

Some have taken to redevelop-ment.

In the United States, once-in-dustrial cities like Cleveland andCincinnati are being given a newlease of life through communityfarms, new housing and commer-cial spaces.

Shanghai’s artists, drawn bycheap rent, have turned a formertextile factory area into a warrenof art galleries and studios.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong andLondon, there is a chronic hous-ing crunch.

Wealthy investors snap up mul-ti-million-dollar apartments evenas these cities struggle with short-ages of affordable housing, unableto meet their residents’ needs.Might some of these cities’much-vaunted green lungs orhistoric buildings have to go?

In Singapore, planners makenearly every piece of land serve atleast one function, and manyserve multiple functions.

For example, a nature reserveis also a water catchment area.

Its trees capture carbon diox-ide, and it might also serve as arecreational area with trails forhikers and bikers.

Reservoirs and rivers are alsoused for water sports and fishing.

In fact, the latest land use planconsolidates single-use sites suchas military areas, and devotes lessspace to others, like golf courses.

But some of the functions of apiece of land may run counter toeach other.

A road may be a thoroughfarefor easing jams, but also a barrierbetween one place and another.

Consider the plight of elderlyMarine Parade residents.

The raised Still Road Southramp is hard to cross, separatingthe senior citizens’ centre on oneside from other amenities inMarine Parade Central on theother.

So planners must balance, forexample, the need for East Coasttraffic to get onto the expresswaywith the ability of older residentsto get around the estate.

Besides using land for multiplepurposes, planners also conservehistoric elements, giving the citycharacter and making it a more de-sirable place to live.

For example, Singapore is turn-ing historic landmarks into publicinstitutions. The former Supreme

Court and City Hall buildings willbecome the National Art Galleryin 2015.

But at the same time, theGovernment tore down theformer National Library at thefoot of Fort Canning in 2004 tomake way for a road tunnel –something people are still soreabout nearly a decade later.

Planners recognise that a littlecommunity involvement in theuse of space gives the communitysome ownership of that space. Forexample, cafes at Kampong Glambear decorative graffiti, andbusinesses in the Haji Lane areaorganised a weekend road closureto entice visitors on foot.

The former Bidadari cemeterywill be turned into a housing es-tate with a memorial park to markthe cemetery’s significance.

But another cemetery, BukitBrown, will soon have a roadthrough it and make way forhousing.

Though it is no longer open fornew burials, biodiversity-richBukit Brown remains a space forreligious rituals, birdwatchers andjoggers – not to mention the finalresting place of pioneers like

Nanyang University co-founderTan Lark Sye and businessmanOng Sam Leong.

How might Singapore house agrowing population while preserv-ing more nature areas andretaining the character and com-munity feel of its neighbour-hoods?

Dr Stephen Cairns of theFuture Cities Laboratory here, aresearch collaboration betweenSingapore and ETH Zurich,suggests allowing “3-D cities” toevolve.

Of course all cities are techni-cally three-dimensional.

But what Dr Cairns means isthat some, like Hong Kong orTokyo, have on their upper floorsand levels the same kind ofvibrant city life one normallyfinds on the street.

Having mixed-use develop-ments at multiple levels – say acoffee shop on one floor, ahairdresser on another – andallowing for serendipitous encoun-ters between neighbours could bea way of building the communityeven as land use intensifies, hesaid.

“It gives more possibilities for

identity to develop. If I’m livingin a particular part of the block,close to emerging manufacturing,I can look across to a common

park – I feel like I own it, like it’sin my neighbourhood.”

And increasing density allowsthe city’s existing heritage areas

and green spaces to be lessthreatened by development, headded.

Singapore may not be accus-tomed to living this way, he said,but a few generations ago, evenhigh-rise living was a new con-cept.

The city is always changing –even if change takes place oververy long periods. The question ishow best to ease the transition.

During Budget debates inParliament last month, SeniorMinister of State for NationalDevelopment Tan Chuan-Jin saidthe Government tries to seek outand weigh different views ondevelopment, and engage stake-holders.

But he noted the balance be-tween conservation and develop-ment was subjective and highlycontextual.

“For example, one may strong-ly believe that this patch ofgreenery is very important. Butsomebody else might say, does itreally matter? Why are we spend-ing so much time, so much re-sources, dragging our feet on theissue?”

caiwj@sph.com.sg

THE SINGAPORE PERSPECTIVE

Making every patch of land work harder

Woodleigh MRT station on the North East Line is built underground, as are other critical infrastructure like power cables,the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, and the Common Services Tunnel under Marina Bay. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

A view of the Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Golf Course as seen from the rooftop of the Ritz-Carlton hotel. The latest land use plan devotes less space to uses like golf courses. ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA

PRIMER

Planning and replanning land use

M O N D A Y , A P R I L 1 , 2 0 1 3 OOPPIINNIIOONN A23