PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES: LESSONS FROM SEOUL AND SINGAPORE COMMUNITIES: LESSONS FROM PLANNING FOR PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES Lessons from Seoul and Singapore PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES Lessons from Seoul and Singapore For product information, please contact Project Team CLC Publications +65 66459576 Seoul Centre for Liveable Cities The Seoul Institute 45 Maxwell Road #07-01 Project Co-lead : Dr Hyunchan Ahn, Associate Research Fellow The URA Centre Researchers : Dr Chang Yi, Research Fellow Singapore 069118 Dr Jae-Seob Yang, Senior Research Fellow [email protected] Meekyong Song, Research Assistant Cover photo Singapore Seoul – Courtesy of Seoul Institute (top) Centre for Liveable Cities Singapore – Courtesy of HDB (below) Project Co-lead : Dr Limin Hee, Director Researchers : Remy Guo, Senior Assistant Director Phua Shi Hui, Manager Joshua Sim, Manager Ruan Ningzhen, Manager Koay Xin Yi, Intern Editor : Alvin Pang, Adjunct Editor Designer : Ng Yong Yi, Adjunct Designer Supporting Agencies : Housing and Development Board Lim E-Farn, Principal Researcher Pay Chong Hoe, Senior Community Relations Manager Qiu Huiwen, Executive Engineer Chloe Wan Bao Qi, Senior Planner Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Jessica Ng, Assistant Director (Programmes & Partnerships) Printed on Cocoon offset, a FSC-certified recycled paper. People’s Association E-book ISBN 978-981-11-5042-5 Lee Hwee Wan, Assistant Director Paperback ISBN 978-981-11-5041-8 Urban Redevelopment Authority All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to trace all sources and copyright holders of news articles, figures and information in this book before publication. If any has been inadvertently overlooked, CLC and Seoul Institute will ensure that full credit is given at the earliest opportunity. © 2017 Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore and the Seoul Institute. All rights reserved. CONTENTS Foreword by Seoul Foreword by Singapore 1. Introduction 01 2. Research Process 07 3. Urban Planning and Public Participation 11 About the Centre for Liveable Cities • Urban Planning in Seoul Set up in 2008 by the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of the Environment • Urban Planning in Singapore and Water Resources, the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) has as its mission “to distil, create and share knowledge on liveable and sustainable cities.” CLC’s work spans three main areas: 4. Local Community Organisations 35 Research, Capability Development and Knowledge Platforms. Through these activities, CLC • Seoul: From Institutionalised Structures to Community-Led Initiatives hopes to provide urban leaders and practitioners with the knowledge and support needed to • Singapore: Public Housing Development and Community Building make our cities better. www.clc.gov.sg 5. From the Drawing Board to the Community: Participatory Planning Case Studies from Seoul and Singapore • Town Level Rejuvenation 54 - Seoul: Local Community Planning - Seoul: Strategic Urban Regeneration Plan - Singapore: Remaking our Heartland (ROH) • Neighbourhood-Level Planning 87 - Seoul: Dong-Level Community Planning - Seoul: Residential Environment Management Program (REMP) About the Seoul Institute - Singapore: Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) The Seoul Development Institute was established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and BOND! Pilot Project (SMG) in 1992 and was renamed as the Seoul Institute (SI) on 1 August 2012. The Seoul • Major Developments in Existing Communities 116 Institute’s goal is to establish a medium- to long-term vision for Seoul and propose social - Seoul: Gyeongui Line Forest Park policies on welfare, culture, education and industries, and urban management policies on - Singapore: Rail Corridor city planning, transportation, safety and the environment. SI’s primary objective is to improve municipal administration through professional research, improve the quality of life in Seoul, - Singapore: Our Tampines Hub (OTH) and reinforce and sustain the competitiveness of Seoul. https://www.si.re.kr/ • Community Participation and Ownership 144 - Seoul: Vibrant Community Center (VCC) - Seoul: Namugunuel—Citizen Ownership of Community Spaces - Singapore: Hello Neighbour—Social Linkway and Neighbourhood Incubator Project - Singapore: Community Participatory Programmes 6. Planning for Communities, with Communities, by Communities: 179 Lessons from Seoul and Singapore 7. Conclusion: It Takes a Village to Plan a City— 191 Towards Collaborative Planning Approaches 8. Bibliography and Image Credits 192 and Dong-Level Plans. Currently, cities and connects almost one million people FOREWORD including Moscow, Beijing, and Santiago, FOREWORD living in estates along its stretch. Through have expressed their interests to learn about exhibitions and public workshops, we are BY SEOUL the planning processes of the Seoul Plan BY SINGAPORE actively engaging the public on how this 2030. “Rail Corridor” can be transformed into a distinctive community green space. Seoul did not always give priority to its citizens. Under the authoritarian leadership We have also recently launched “Our from the 1960s to the 1990s, rapid Favourite Place”, a public space programme economic growth was pushed forward which supports the community in activating in a top-down manner. Such a method public spaces with innovative place- made it possible for the city to have a making ideas. One project under this better residential environment and social programme saw unwanted pianos restored infrastructure in a relatively short period and transformed into art pieces at public of time. Voices of citizens were neglected locations for everyone to use and enjoy. It is my great pleasure to see the fruition in the process, however. Such an era now Singapore has seen rapid urban changes of the collaborative research project has come to an end. Seoulites are living over the last 50 years. While urban planning These are just a few examples of the many between the Seoul Institute and the Centre in a world of WikiLeaks, where secrets no in the early years emphasised basic physical engagement projects that we have embarked for Liveable Cities (CLC), “Planning for longer exist, and live in an era of Facebook, infrastructure, the approach evolved over on. We intend to facilitate broader and Communities: Lessons from Seoul and where anyone can communicate with the years to consider the broader aspects of deeper collaborations with the community, Singapore.” I would like to express my each other anytime, anywhere. As far as urban development. and develop effective solutions to address congratulations. urban policy goes, citizen involvement increasingly complex urban planning issues. is a must, not a choice. This is true for In tandem with this shift in urban This project contains Seoul’s experiences of cities both in developed and developing development, we recognise the need “Planning for Communities: Lessons from policy making with citizen participation over countries. Singapore is no exception. Unlike for more community involvement in our Seoul and Singapore” is a timely publication the last decade. Currently, all the policies, the past when a paternalistic leader alone planning and development processes. to distil the experiences of both Seoul and projects, and various levels of the plans of devised plans for national development, Citizens play a significant role in contributing Singapore. I hope this second collaboration the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) Singapore has tried to involve its citizens in fresh perspectives to the planning process, between the Centre for Liveable Cities and are drafted by the citizens, for the citizens its governance. “Planning for Communities: and also in initiating and implementing new the Seoul Institute provides inspiration to and about the citizens. Urban Master Plan Lessons from Seoul and Singapore” contains ground-up ideas. improve community involvement in urban is no exception. Seoul Plan 2030 was our experiences of citizen participatory planning and development. completed in 2014, a plan created from the planning. Even though the two cities walked Singapore and Seoul are interesting cities active participation of general citizens and a similar path, there are some differences in to study in this respect. Both cities saw Lawrence Wong experts across various disciplines. The plan how to achieve involvement from citizens. great progress in urban development before Minister for National Development sets the visions for the city and includes how Still, a collaborative research project was the 1980s as a result of government-led Singapore to respond to issues that citizens consider only possible because both cities deeply initiatives. In recent years, we now share important with concrete strategies by 2030. shared the importance of citizen participatory common aspirations to give our citizens a From its initial stages to the finalisation planning. greater role in our planning and development of Seoul Plan 2030, citizens and experts processes, and to co-create the living worked together to create Seoul Plan 2030. I wish this collaborative research project will environment with our stakeholders. In the process, the SMG made an effort to contribute to making Seoul and Singapore ensure openness and transparency. Such more sustainable, people-oriented cities.