Integrating Land Use & Mobility: Supporting Sustainable Growth In Singapore, a small and densely built-up city state, an integrated approach to transport and land use planning is essential to creating a highly liveable and sustainable environment. This Urban Systems Study STUDIES URBAN SYSTEMS traces more than five decades of integration between the planning and development of transport and land use, to minimise congestion and inefficient use of land. Singapore’s visionary, long-term planning enables the development of housing estates and commercial centres outside of the Central Area, closely served by a robust transport network of roads and a rail-based mass rapid transit (MRT) system. At the local level, comprehensive urban design guidelines ensure close integration between transport nodes and their surrounding developments, enhancing accessibility and connectivity. This integrated framework for land use and transport development continues to evolve Integrating Land Use & Mobility: Supporting Sustainable Growth Supporting Sustainable Land Use & Mobility: Integrating to meet changing needs through the years. Integrating Land Use & Mobility: Supporting Sustainable Growth 9 789811 170911 Integrating Land Use & Mobility: Supporting Sustainable Growth Urban Systems Studies (USS) Books Financing a City: Developing Foundations for Sustainable Growth Land Acquisition and Resettlement: Securing Resources for Development Built by Singapore: From Slums to a Sustainable Living Environment Planning for Tourism: Creating a Vibrant Singapore Cleaning a Nation: Cultivating a Healthy Living Environment Urban Redevelopment: From Urban Squalor to Global City Port and the City: Balancing Growth and Liveability The Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Programme: Water as an Environmental Asset Working with Markets: Harnessing Market Forces and Private Sector for Development A City of Culture: Planning for the Arts Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City: A New Paradigm in Collaboration Land Framework of Singapore: Building a Sound Land Administration and Management System Engaging Well, Forging Bonds: The Community as Stakeholders in Urban Development For product information, visit http://www.clc.gov.sg/Publications/USS2014.htm Integrating Land Singapore Urban Systems Studies Booklet Series Use & Mobility: Water: From Scarce Resource to National Asset Supporting Transport: Overcoming Constraints, Sustaining Mobility Industrial Infrastructure: Growing in Tandem with the Economy Sustainable Growth Sustainable Environment: Balancing Growth with the Environment Housing: Turning Squatters into Stakeholders Biodiversity: Nature Conservation in the Greening of Singapore For product information, visit https://www.clc.gov.sg/publications/uss2013.htm Liveable and Sustainable Cities: A Framework For product information, visit https://www.clc.gov.sg/publications/books-liveable-and-sustainable-cities.htm First Edition, Singapore, 2018 Editorial Team Writers: Clarice Chow, Manager, Centre for Liveable Cities CONTENTS Jean Chia, Senior Assistant Director, Centre for Liveable Cities Mina Zhan, Senior Assistant Director, Centre for Liveable Cities Research Advisor: Wong Kai Yeng, Expert, Centre for Liveable Cities List of Illustrations ix Editor: Amit Prakash, Adjunct, Centre for Liveable Cities Foreword xi Production Supervisor: Eunice Rachel Low, Adjunct, Centre for Liveable Cities Preface xiii © 2018 Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), Singapore. All rights reserved. Acknowledgements xv The Singapore Liveability Framework xvi CLC is a division of Overview 1 Chapter 1 Early Integration: Self-Sufficient Residential Towns 3 Set up in 2008 by the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) has as its mission “to distil, create Chapter 2 A Long-term Vision 7 and share knowledge on liveable and sustainable cities”. The CLC’s work spans four main • The First Concept Plan 8 areas—Research, Capability Development, Knowledge Platforms, and Advisory. Through these • Upgrading Roads 14 activities, the CLC hopes to provide urban leaders and practitioners with the knowledge and support needed to make our cities better. For more information, please visit www.clc.gov.sg. • Establishing the Need for Public Transportation 20 • The MRT Solution to Road Congestion 21 Research Advisors for the CLC’s Urban Systems Studies are experts who have generously provided their guidance and advice. However, they are not responsible for any remaining Chapter 3 Laying the Foundation for the MRT 23 errors or omissions, which remain the responsibility of the author(s) and the CLC. • Beyond the State and City Planning Project: Further Studies and Implementation 24 • Constructing the Compass Line 28 For product information, please contact Financing Development Integrated with Transport 30 CLC Publications +65 66459576 • Going Underground in the Central Area 32 Centre for Liveable Cities • Connecting Housing Corridors 35 45 Maxwell Road #07-01 • Rationalising and Reorganising the Public Transport System 36 The URA Centre Singapore 069118 Chapter 4 A Strategy for Decentralisation 37 [email protected] • The Constellation Concept 38 • Case Study: A Tale of Three Regional Centres 41 ISBN 978-981-11-7091-1 (print) ISBN 978-981-11-7142-0 (e-version) • Supporting the 1991 Concept Plan 49 Chapter 5 Connecting the Developmental Corridors 51 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by • Connecting New Towns 52 any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Buangkok’s White Elephant: Challenges of Every effort has been made to trace all sources and copyright holders of news articles, figures and information in Phasing Housing and Transport Development 56 this book before publication. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, CLC will ensure that full credit is given • Localised Integration: Linking Developments to at the earliest opportunity. MRT Stations 59 Cover photo: • Case Study: Dhoby Ghaut—A New Conceptual image of Tengah, a car-lite forest town. Tengah will have the first “car-free” HDB town centre in Singapore, with roads, parking facilities and services plying below ground. The town centre will be nestled in Developmental Approach 60 a large “Central Park”—integrated with water bodies and a 100-m wide and 5-km long “Forest Corridor” that • Nurturing a Multi-Modal Transport System 63 would be safe for walking, cycling and recreational activities. • Case Study: Sengkang—Integration from Scratch 68 Perspective courtesy of the Housing & Development Board. Illustrations are artist’s impressions only. Actual developments may differ. Chapter 6 A Pedestrian-Friendly Central Area 71 • Planning for Walkability 72 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS • An Engaging Walking Experience 74 Diagrams • Case Study: CityLink Mall—Singapore’s First • Singapore Liveability Framework xvi Purpose-Built Underground Shopping Centre 76 • Case Study: Marina Bay—Planning for • Timeline: Integrating Land Use and Mobility 110 People-Centred Accessibility 79 Chapter 7 Going Car-lite 85 Exhibits • Doubling the MRT Network 86 • Exhibit 1 : Central Area Expressway Box 16 Learning from Disruptions: Playing Catch-Up on • Exhibit 2 : Proposed MRT Alignments Linking the Upgrading Rail Infrastructure 88 North South Line to the East West Line 25 • Evolving Challenges: Integrating New Lines in a • Exhibit 3 : Roles and Responsibilities of Government Built-up City 91 Agencies Involved in MRT Construction 29 • Active Mobility: Covering the Last Mile 94 • Exhibit 4 : Development Radius around Central Area • Laying the Path for Cycling 96 MRT stations 34 Tengah: A Car-lite Forest Town 100 • Exhibit 5 : Commercial Centres outside the Central Area 40 • Sharing the Road 103 • Exhibit 6 : Working Structure of the Strategic Abandoning SURS: Towards a Car-Lite Future 104 Transportation Plan 49 Chapter 8 Conclusion: Guiding Principles of Integrated Planning for • Exhibit 7 : Integrating Land Use and Mobility: Land Use and Mobility 107 In Retrospect 54 • Exhibit 8 : Rail Network Expansion Plan up to 2030 87 Endnotes 116 Bibliography 125 Photographs and Images • Toa Payoh Town Centre in the 1970s 5 • Passengers disembarking at the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange 6 • Draft of Ring Plan (diagram K) from Second Stage Ideation of the SCP 10 • High-density developmental corridors and home-to-work movements 11 • The 1971 Concept Plan and Transportation Plan 12 • Construction of the East Coast Parkway (ECP) 17 • Shenton Way area, and the ECP passing through Marina South 18 • Area Licensing Scheme gantry in operation at the Restricted Zone, and City Shuttle Services facilitating the Park-and-Ride Scheme. 19 • Alternative MRT Systems: Proposed Basic and Extensive Systems 22 • Alignment of the completed Compass Line 28 • Wheelock Place, a GLS site adjoining the Orchard Road MRT 31 • Seamless interface between Tanjong Pagar Centre and FOREWORD the MRT station 33 At the start of its journey as an independent nation, Singapore was • The Constellation Concept and proposed rail connections 39 already familiar with the woes of urbanisation. Congestion was a critical • 1991 master plan and urban design for Tampines issue in the 1960s, with vehicles crawling along narrow and winding roads Regional Centre 42 in a crowded city centre. The government was quick to recognise that • Schematic plan of the Elevated Pedestrian Network (J-Walk)