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 across the country.[1]

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

Singapore in 1950s had a city centre surrounded by slums and squatter colonies. By 1959 when Singapore attained self government, 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 50,726 58,000 138,200
Bedok 勿洛 wùluò பிடோ 9.37 4.18 62,816 79,000 187,900
Bishan 碧山 bìshān பீஷான் 6.90 1.72 20,072 34,000 61,100
Bukit Batok 武吉巴督 wǔjíbādū புக்கிட் பாத்தோக் 7.85 2.91 44,285 54,000 121,400
Bukit Merah 红山 hóngshān புக்கிட் மேரா 8.58 3.12 54,227 68,000 141,400
Bukit Panjang 武吉班让 wǔjíbānràng புக்கிட் பாஞ்சாங் 4.89 2.19 35,325 44,000 118,900
Choa Chu Kang 蔡厝港 càicuògǎng சுவா சூ காங் 5.83 3.07 48,900 62,000 167,200
Clementi 金文泰 jīnwéntài கிளிமெண்டி 4.12 2.03 26,730 39,000 69,500
Geylang 芽笼 yálóng கேலாங் 6.78 2.14 30,892 50,000 86,000
Hougang 后港 hòugǎng ஹவ்காங் 13.09 3.67 57,272 72,000 179,700
Jurong East 裕廊东 yùlángdōng ஜூரோங் 3.84 1.65 24,122 31,000 75,400
Jurong West 裕廊西 yùlángxī ஜூரோங் 9.87 4.80 75,208 94,000 253,800
Kallang/Whampoa 加冷／黄浦 jiālĕng/huángpǔ காலாங் 7.99 2.10 39,931 57,000 105,200
Pasir Ris 巴西立 bāxīlì பாசிர் ரிஸ் 6.01 3.18 29,654 44,000 106,600
Punggol 榜鵝 bǎng'é பொங்கோல் 9.57 3.74 50,663 96,000 146,900
Queenstown 女皇镇 nǚhuángzhèn குவீன்ஸ்டவுன் 6.94 2.10 33,164 60,000 81,200
Sembawang 三巴旺 sānbāwàng செம்பவாங் 7.08 3.31 30,020 65,000 81,500
Sengkang 盛港 shènggǎng செங்காங 10.55 3.97 69,196 96,000 217,700
Serangoon 实龙岗 shílónggāng சிராங்கூன் 7.37 1.63 21,632 30,000 66,800
Tampines 淡滨尼 dànbīnní தெம்பினிஸ் 12.00 5.49 72,683 110,000 232,700
Toa Payoh 大巴窑 dàbāyáo தோ பாயோ 5.56 2.48 39,737 61,000 103,800
Woodlands 兀兰 wùlán ஊட்லண்ட்ஸ் 11.98 4.80 69,900 102,000 243,300
Yishun 义顺 yìshùn யீஷூன் 7.78 3.98 65,158 84,000 198,500

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 8,100
Marine Parade 马林百列 – மரின் பரேட் 6,537 20,800
Central Area 新加坡中區 – சிங்கப்பூர் மாவட்டம் 9,459 27,200

See also

References
  1. "History of HDB". Housing & Development Board. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  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.
  3. Building Social Housing Foundation, Tampines Town Archived 2004-12-28 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 19 Mar 2007.
  4. Field, Brian (1 January 1992). "Singapore's New Town prototype: a textbook prescription?". Habitat International. 16 (3): 89–101. doi:10.1016/0197-3975(92)90066-8.
  5. Tuan Seik, Foo (1 February 2001). "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.
  6. HDB Annual Reports
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