Urban planning in Singapore

Urban planning in Singapore has formulated and guided its physical development from the day the modern city was founded in 1819 as a British colony to the thriving, independent country it is today.

History

The founding of modern Singapore in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles was not by chance, involving the search for a deep, sheltered harbour suitable to establish a pivotal maritime base for British interests in the Far East, and to protect her maritime trading routes on the East-west axis. Hence, the settlers found the waters of Keppel Harbour suitable, and the entourage of eight ships anchored off the mouth of a small river on January 28 1819. Raffles made landing on the north bank of the river, and discovered favourable conditions for the setting up of a colony. The area on the side of the river's north bank on which he was on was level and firm, although the southern bank was swampy. Abundant fresh water was found, and the river itself was a sheltered body of water protected by the curved river mouth. This river was to become the nexus from which the new colony shall thrive, and the immediate surrounding areas was to development as the core of the island's business and civic areas.

Upon its formal estalishment with the signing of a treaty on February 6 the same year, Raffles left the settlement, leaving Colonel William Farquhar as the first Resident of Singapore. By end May, he returned, and while noting the rapid development of the city, realised the need for a formal urban plan to guide its otherwise disorganised physical expansion. He left the colony again, instructing Farquhar to designate residential, commercial, and governmental land uses for the colony.

When he returned more then two years later in October 1822, however, Raffles was dismayed by the way the colony has grown. He therefore formed a Town Committee headed by Lieutenant Philip Jackson to draw up a formal plan for the colony, which came to be known as the Jackson Plan, and was to become the first detailed city plan for Singapore. This plan was to lay the groundwork of the city's street and zonal layout, the essense of which continues to exist today. For example, the allocation of civic institutions on the north bank of the Singapore River and the creation of the main commercial area in what was then known as "Commercial Square" on the south bank has today evolved into the Civic district and the CBD on either side of the river today. The grid-like street pattens continue to exist, while the ethnically segregated residential zones, despite having been largely depopulated by now, has continued to exist as ethnic enclaves attracting the attention of tourists, such as in the Chinatown, Little India, and Kampong Glam districts.

(to be continued)

References

• "Home, work, play" Sumiko Tan, Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1999 ISBN 9810417063
• History of the Urban Redevelopment Authority