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Publication LIVING STREET(2010-06-02T08:17:21Z) CHAN FONG SHENG; ARCHITECTURE; DAVISI BOONTHARMIn the past, majority of the influx of immigrants were cramped into shophouses. Congested living conditions within the upper storey of the shophouses led to the streets functioning as an extension of the living room. The streets not only operate as a thoroughfare but also as a commercial network of shops and street peddlers. The multitude of street functions from the extant conditions gave rise to the spontaneity and vibrancy. As the city evolved, these conditions became irrelevant, and the former street culture slowly disappeared. The site chosen is in the heartlands of Yio Chu Kang where there is a lack of commercial shops and pedestrian linkages are limited to sheltered walkways and void decks where there are no activities. There is a lack of energy as residents are conditioned to be more homebound than streetbound. This thesis attempts to bring back old street culture qualities through a new typology of Pedestrian Street within the heartlands of Singapore. This street will function as a linkage from the MRT station (main source of human flow) through to the market/ food centre (commercial node). It provides opportunities for the residents to engage in activities ranging from commercial to recreational to everyday living, recreating chances for heartlanders to revive and perhaps strengthen the mutual rapport that was once integral to communal living.Publication IMAGEABILITY OF THE STREETS OF SINGAPORE(2010-02-26T03:15:02Z) CHAN FONG SHENG; ARCHITECTURE; HENG CHYE KIANGStreets serves beyond the functional circulation channels of the city when in fact they are the arteries that lead to the heart of the city as expounded by Jane Jacob in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities1, in which she mentions that the life of cities are indicated by the life of its streets. Thus streets as stage for public activities become the representation of the city. In order to comprehend the extent that representation or image of the City is shaped by its streets, beyond the physical characteristics of the public spaces, the political, social and cultural phenomenon of city life that unfolds directly or indirectly onto public space needs to be scrutinized to provide a more encompassing analysis. While Kevin Lynch in his widely popular publication The Image of the City2 highlights how the physical aspects such as paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks contributes to a street’s and subsequently a city’s imageability, he also did mention that there are other intangible factors as crucial that also contributes to this imageability such as “expressiveness, sensuous delight, rhythm, stimulus and choice” with respect to the space. As Victor Savage mentions in Chua Beng Huat and Norman Edwards’ book Public Space: Design use and Management, “As public spaces, streets are important structures and identities in the mental maps of both tourists and residents; street life and culture were important ingredients in the imageability of a city.”3 Thus it is in the interest of this paper to study the development of Singapore streets through history, not only in the aspects of its morphology but also bearing in mind other influences that has, and continues to shape it, such as government policies and agenda, changing market forces as well as evolving public culture. As there are many typologies of streets, this paper will focus mainly on the commercial streets. The streets in the region of Bugis Street and Pekin Street will serve as the two case studies in an attempt to reveal how the planning policies, market forces and public culture have shaped their development. It is the desire of this analysis to provide an insight into the intangible qualities of Singapore streets and its dominant contribution to its imageability, beyond the physical.