Singapore - A Planned City

Singapore

An NIC (Newly Industrialised Country):

Singapore as Port - Sea and Air Singapore is probably the second largest sea port in the world, after Rotterdam. It does not just funnel raw materials into and finished goods out of its own country or 'hinterland'. During and after British colonial rule, it prospered as a transshipment centre or 'entrepôt', taking in, holding and redistributing cargoes from all over the world. Its fine natural anchorage is ideally placed at a meeting point of shipping routes between Europe, the Far East, India, the Gulf, Indonesia, Australia and the western USA. Singapore has long enjoyed a strategic economic and military location: hence the importance of its sea links and port. Now, in the age of global travel, its air links give it a major international role. It is the natural stopping-off port on long-haul flights between Australia and Europe, and west-bound routes from Japan and the USA. The efficiency and profitability of these ports is legendary. Singapore has the busiest and most user-friendly airport in the region, but it is the seaport that is possibly the most attractive transport feature to business users Customers must book well in advance to get a specific time for their truck to arrive at the port terminal to collect or deliver a container. Everything the driver needs to know is digitised onto a card: where to go in the port, at what time, how long he has to complete the operation, the name of the vessel and the departure time. Commercial Prosperity: a 'Tiger Economy' Singapore has sustained very rapid expansion and growing prosperity during the last two decades, along with the other 'tiger economies' of Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Its GNP per capita matches that of Italy and the UK. Banks, insurance companies and major multinationals use Singapore as their hub, their base from which to work throughout Asia Pacific and the world as a whole. Business loves Singapore: it is efficient, planned and predictable, and possibly the prime location in Asia Pacific. In the long list of companies that have established themselves here, one of the latest arrivals is MTV Asia. Young, expanding and hi-tec, it is just the sort of operation that Singapore is trying to attract in order to hold on to its position as the nerve centre for modern business in the region. From here MTV broadcasts to

and manages its huge and varied market of 450 million people in Asia Pacific. At its centre is a video player which takes huge quantities of cassettes, all preprogrammed to transmit in just the right order. The staff are recruited locally and from other parts of the region. The city attracts the businesses and the people follow, enriching the diversity that Singapore has always enjoyed. In the space of one sentence they switch from English to Asian languages and back again - very typical of Singapore.

Urban Planning and Morphology in Singapore Singapore's pattern of land use is completely different from that of all other Asian Pacific cities. The tall buildings are concentrated in one area and there is only one central business district. This nerve centre houses banks, insurance companies and the headquarters of major multi-nationals. They use Singapore as their base, from which they operate throughout Asia Pacific and throughout the world. They like the fact that everything in the city is efficient, planned and predictable. Many things make Singapore unique in Asia Pacific. A huge percentage of people come to work by public transport. You can go anywhere at any time of the day and arrive on time. The train network was planned and built before the city expanded. Singapore has an equatorial climate. Air conditioning cools the trains and the buses. Swift, punctual, spotless and arty, they never get stuck in jams because huge government taxes mean that it costs a fortune to buy and run a car. The city centre is a restricted zone: every time a car crosses the line, a fee is charged by infra-red beam straight to a smart card in the vehicle. Singapore runs according to plans and rules. Chewing gum in the street is a fineable offence; so is crossing the road at the wrong time. Crime levels are low because punishments are severe. No food is allowed on public transport; dropping litter attracts a fine of £1000. Bureaucracy is massive in every walk of life. Even the lush plant life along the motorways is not the remains of the original natural vegetation: it has been planted to enhance the city's visual appeal. All the city's greenery is on a strict maintenance schedule. There is not much about Singapore that has not been planned. Indeed, planning is one of the main forces that has created the place. Currently the destiny of every square metre belongs to a grand design called the Concept Plan, due for completion in 2004. The plan decides where all new development will go - including housing, industry and new transport. Giant construction sites are scattered throughout the suburbs. In many places this would be a recipe for chaos, but not here. No truck from a construction site is allowed to take mud back on to the road. Singapore is naturally a high-density city (5000 people per square kilometre), but there are no slums, because the poor are simply not allowed to settle there or create shanty towns.