RE-IMAGINING MATURE ESTATES IN SINGAPORE: THE ROLE OF ESTATE BRANDING IN URBAN RENEWAL OF PUBLIC HOUSING

Abstract

Public housing landscape in Singapore has undergone a series of upgrading campaigns and renewal efforts in recent decades. Providing housing for more than 80% of Singapore’s population, the traditional standardized, utilitarian public housing model faces increasing pressure to accommodate population growth, cater for varying aspirations as well as provide quality living. This is especially so in older mature estates of where housing and facilities are in dire need of renewal. Studies on Housing Developmental Board’s (HDB) changing discourses as well as urban renewal plans and policies have analysed trends, motivations and consequences of strategies employed in the transformation of Singapore’s public housing landscape. Despite the adoption of a top-down urban renewal approach, the general public seems agreeable and receptive to the efforts and transformation of public housing. This paper is thus explores the role of narration and branding by HDB in facilitating urban renewal transformations of public housing estates. Through a case study of Remaking Our Heartlands Dawson, this paper aims to study and illustrate how estate branding is constructed and used to justify and legitimize urban renewal objectives to create spaces of exclusivity for new demographics of the neighbourhood within the public housing sphere.