TOWNSHIP FACILITIES PLANNING IN SINGAPORE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Abstract

With rising affluence and literacy rate leading to high quality of life alongside an emerging issue of an ageing population and an influx of immigrants, it is essential to refine the built environment to include the human element in terms of their needs with consideration on the impact of natural environment. Consequently, the objectives of the study include exploring ways to achieve sustainable facilities planning, along with seeking green transportation to connect these facilities within and between towns, achievable in a timeframe of 20 years from now. Several works were reviewed to identify the sustainable approach applicable to Singapore‟s town planning, followed by the two proposed visions on sustainability and integration for the new town facilities. As such, simple random sampling by street and electronic survey questionnaires were performed, and 50 responses were received to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed sustainable new town facilities and integration of green transportation derived from the works reviewed and the visions. It was found out that environmentally sustainable features such as solar-powered appliances, socially sustainable features such as open spaces and parks, economically sustainable features such as tax incentives, and green transport such as hybrid car received above 50% of the support from the respondents. In view of the findings, it can be concluded that environmentally sustainable and socially sustainable facilities and integration of green transportation were in favour, but more can be done to achieve economic sustainability. Conversely, the limitations include lack of design professional views, small sample size and non-comprehensive study due to time constraints.