Speech by MOS Dr Koh Poh Koon at the Official Launch of "Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition: Everyone Contributes" Exhibition
Jul 15, 2016
Good evening. It is my pleasure to join you here for the official launch of the “Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition: Everyone Contributes” Exhibition.
First launched in 2011, this competition series recognises that the high density compact urban development model is needed for rapidly urbanising Asian cities. 16 out of the 28 megacities in the world are in Asia, and they will be more compact and urbanised as the years go by.
For a small city-state like Singapore, a high density and compact urban development strategy is indeed necessary. We have only 719 km2 of land and that is a very small space to pack in a lot of people. Having a good development strategy helps us optimise our limited land and minimise sprawl, as well as allow us to make available more space for greenery and recreation, making the city more liveable. A highly compact city also encourages people to walk and cycle, because everything is much closer to you. These are healthier modes of transportation, and they reduce both air and noise pollutions.
Importance of Long Term Planning
Though we are a small country, we have never allowed our size to contain our imagination and constrain our development. With long term planning and a clear strategic vision, we have provided a high quality built environment for our people.
Marina Bay is a successful example of Singapore’s long-term planning efforts. Through the foresight of our urban planners in the past, land was reclaimed from the sea way back in the 1970s, in anticipation of the future growth of our Central Business District.
Following the reclamation, Marina Bay has been planned as a vibrant, mixed-use district with round-the-clock activities based on sustainable development strategies. It is well served by public transport with four rail lines and nine MRT stations, and is the first district in Singapore to be planned upfront with a network of dedicated cycling lanes. We are also utilising the space underground for urban infrastructure such as the common services tunnel and the district cooling system. It is much more economical to invest in such infrastructure provisions when it is for a high-density and compact district such as Marina Bay. These infrastructures take pre-planning in order to allow coherent and seamless development.
Today, Marina Bay has become a seamless and vibrant extension of our CBD, and has grown into a leading global financial centre and important civic space for the country. With the additions to our skyline, it is also a place Singaporeans are proud of.
Our planning efforts can never stop as urban challenges evolve over time while land remains limited. We constantly face new challenges such as changing demographics and a more aged population, climate change, and rising aspirations of a more educated population for a high quality of life. However, our priority remains the same: we seek to cater for the way we live, work, and play in a good quality and sustainable environment. Small can still be beautiful.
To tackle the new urban challenges, new thinking, ideas and paradigms for the planning and design of our city are necessary. The Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition is one example how we put together the most creative brains from different institutions across the world, to come together with fresh pair of lenses to look at development of existing land.
Relocation of Paya Lebar Air Base
In August 2013, we announced plans to relocate the Paya Lebar airbase to Changi East. As this is a massive endeavor, the relocation will take time. When relocation is finally completed, about 800ha or 8 sq km of land will be freed up and will help to meet our future housing and employment needs. The removal of the height restrictions imposed by the airbase will allow us to build up vertically within and around the site. The release of this plot of land will provide us with opportunities to plan, design and shape the area into another vibrant and exciting place for everyone to enjoy.
Amid the new urban challenges, national needs and aspirations of our community, we need to continue to be open-minded, innovative and inclusive in our planning.
“Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition: Everyone Contributes” Exhibition
Hence, the “Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition: Everyone Contributes” Exhibition is timely and relevant. Students from Architecture and related disciplines, from 10 participating universities across Asia, Europe and the United States, share their design ideas at this exhibition for the land that will be available after the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase. I am looking forward to walking through the exhibition to find out what the students have brainstormed and presented. And I hope that the exhibition will inspire all of us here, whether you are policy makers, planners or industrial partners, to explore the creative possibilities for urban development in Singapore and the rest of Asia. The future is unlimited. I hope we will let our ideas take flight, and never be constrained. Sky is the limit.
I am glad to witness the fruits of the competition and its accompanying symposium culminating into a publication. I hope the pearls of wisdom distilled from the competition will continue to guide us in the way we imagine our future possibilities and to create a better future in the way we work, live and play, while at the same time, be in harmony with the environment.
Thank you very much for having me here, and I wish you all the very best and a good evening.