Housing 6.5 million people – the challenges

Singapore aims to have a population of 6.5 million some time in the future.

The population has now grown to 4.4 million in 2007. The growth in recent years has been quite significant, probably due to relaxation in immigration. Already, we are feeling the strain on the infrastructure, especially congested roads and inadequate public services.

Can we cope with a larger population? We have been very successful in mobilising the private and public sectors to build more housing. Given time, we can increase our various public services, such as hospitals, schools and recreational facilities.

In my view, the key challenge is to move people between their places of work and their homes. We can tackle this challenge by making a significant investment in our public transport. But, this may not be enough.

We need a new approach. We have to reduce the need for transport by making it easier for people to work closer to their home.

I wish to describe a new concept in town planning which is likely to be suitable to land scare Singapore. It will relieve traffic congestion on the roads and lead to a better quality of life.

In this model, a town comprise of about 100,000 residents. It has offices and workplaces for people to be engaged in an occupation. It also has the facilities, such as a schools, shopping malls, medical facilities, restaurants, recreational clubs and services.

A unique feature is its internal transport. All transport within the town will be served by elevated light rail transport. Adequate trains are provided to reduce the waiting time. Private cars are not allowed in the internal roads. Service roads are provided for delivery of goods.

An alternative to the light rail transport, where it cannot be built, is to have public buses to run on the internal roads.

People can walk in sheltered walkways or use bicycles in shaded pathways. The bicycles are owned by the town and can be provided free or rented for hourly use.

The internal transport will take the residents to the MRT stations, bus terminals or car parks that are located at the fringe of the towns. Some people do not need to own cars, as they can rent a car for a day.

This concept allows a higher density of development. It may be possible to have 50% more usage of the land.

It can support a good quality of life. Children can move around the town, without the fear of being knocked down by traffic. They can study in a nearby school in the town.
Recreational clubs are available to provide sporting and social activities. This helps people to make more friends and get to know your neighbours.

The entire town is a real estate investment trust (REIT). Each resident owns units of the REIT and has the priority to rent an apartment at its market rate. The payout from the investment can be used to offset the rental of the apartment.

If the owner wants to work in another town, it is easy to rent an apartment in that town, and reinvest in the REIT of the new town. They do not have to incur a high cost of selling an individual property. It gives flexibility for people to change jobs and make a new life, with new friends, in another town.

This concept will encourage more people to work in their town. It will reduce traffic congestion on the main roads in Singapore that connect the various towns.

Several years ago, I stayed at Disneyworld in Florida. It has an internal rail transport system that takes the visitors from their hotels to the various places of attraction, restaurants and shops within the theme park. Day visitors park their cars in the large parking lots and use the rail or buses to visit the theme park.

How do you like to live and work in a wonderful place like this everyday?

My daughter, who is a town planner, told me that this idea has already been explored nearly 20 years ago. It is called New Urbanism. Several places around the world have already started to implement this concept.

Here is a brief description taken from Wikipedia. New urbanism is an American urban design movement that arose in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform all aspects of real estate development and urban planning.

New urban neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs and to be walk-able. It is also known as traditional neighbourhood design and transit-oriented development.

In 1991, a private non-profit group in Sacramento, California, invited several architects to develop a set of community principles for land use planning. The commission presented the principles to government officials at its first Yosemite Conference.

The Congress for the New Urbanism was founded in 1993. It has since grown to more than 2,000 members. It is the leading international organization promoting new urban design principles. It held its fifteenth congress in 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Charter of the New Urbanism says:

“ We advocate the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the following principles: neighbourhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities should be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice.”

They support regional planning for open space, appropriate architecture and planning and balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their strategies are the best way to reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and rein in urban sprawl.

Perhaps, Singapore can actively embrace New Urbanism?

Tan Kin Lian

The writer is the former chief executive of NTUC Income. He writes regularly on financial, investment and lifestyle matters in his blog, www.tankinlian.blogspot.com.