RESIDENTIAL REVITALISATION IN SINGAPORE'S CITY CENTRE

Abstract

Singapore's city centre has undergone dramatic changes since the post-war years. The residential component has dwindled over the decades, leading to a 'death¬ by-nightfall' phenomenon similar to that found in other large cities of the world. This is set to change in the new millennium as the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) plans to introduce thrice as many residential units in the city centre than presently available. Most of this will be concentrated in the new Downtown Core. This study aims to find out how residential land use is being reintroduced into the central city in relation to URA's redevelopment plans, the reaction of private developers to these plans and the response of consumers to central city housing. Through this, it is hoped that the study helps us better assess the potential success of the plans for incorporating residential land use in the new Downtown Core. This is achieved through questionnaire surveys of central city, suburban and showflat respondents. In-depth interviews are conducted with personnels from the URA, a realty firm, various private developers and nine central city and suburban residents. The findings suggest that there is a high demand for the city centre as a choice residential locale, especially among foreign buyers of private housing. Generally, respondents are attracted to its high accessibility, wide range of amenities nearby, better investment returns and less tangible reasons, like a sense of history. The study also finds out that while 30 percent of respondents prefer city waterfront condominiums, only four percent likes residential mixed-use developments. As the latter is featured prominently in URA's plans for revitalising the city centre, it indicates that URA and private developers have to work harder in promoting this housing form. The study also argues that there is a need for URA and the private developers to understand the implicit meanings people attach to city centre housing. Only then, city centre residential revitalisation will be successful.