THE APPLICATION OF ECOLOGICAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES IN SITE PLANNING - THE CASE STUDY OF CONEY ISLAND

Abstract

The years of nation building have seen Singapore struggling with the balancing act of providing sufficient space for urban development whilst protecting the natural environment, part of which has been mercilessly modified to make way for urban development. In order to drive physical planning in Singapore towards a more sustainable environment in the future, other than satisfying human needs through physical development, prior consideration for environmental concerns should be instituted at an early stage of the development process to reduce adverse development impact on the natural environment. Perhaps, implementing environmental planning principles in site planning to guide development, should be the starting point towards environmental consciousness for land use planning in Singapore. It allows areas or particular spots on the site for environmental consideration to be more effectively identified before development. Hence, given the merits of ecological site planning, the purpose of this exercise is to apply ecological planning principles into the site planning of Coney Island to guide its development. The site plan proposed at the end of the site planning exercise would attempt to demonstrate land use design which displays environmental sensitivity, based on the perspective of achieving a more sensible and sustainable development.