A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMERCIAL SPACES (HAWKER CENTRES AND WET MARKETS) AND QUALITY OF LIVING IN PUNGGOL NEW TOWN

Abstract

Since Singapore first implemented new town planning in the 1950s, its success in the development of new towns have been remarkable, where they provide affordable housing and good quality of living for over 80% of the population today. However, in order to meet the increasing needs of the population in the 21st century, a paradigm shift in infrastructural planning was observed. This can be seen from a decreasing provision of commercial spaces in new town planning concepts within modern Punggol New Town. This is expected to have severe implications on the ‘Quality of Living’ (QOL) experienced by residents of Punggol New Town, a relationship that have not been fully and critically analyzed. This dissertation aims to assess whether the availability of neighbourhood-level commercial spaces, such as hawker centres and wet markets, would affect the QOL experienced by residents within new towns. Through the use of a structured survey questionnaire, residents from two different clusters within Punggol New Town, differing in their provision of such commercial spaces, were asked to rate their respective levels of satisfaction with the different derived household and neighbourhood indicators for measuring the QOL experienced within the new town and also their QOL experienced. Overall, it was found that the availability of and proximity to neighbourhood-level commercial spaces was significant in enhancing residents’ QOL experienced. This was evidenced through a comparison of residents’ QOL and satisfaction with the availability of neighbourhood-level commercial spaces conducted between the Punggol East and Non-Punggol East clusters within Punggol New Town, and also between Punggol New Town and other mature and middle-age new towns. The results also suggest the need for a greater provision of such spaces within Punggol New Town to enhance its liveability status.