HUMANISING OUR VERTICAL URBAN HABITAT: THE CASE FOR ELEVATED PUBLIC SPACES IN HIGH-DENSITY PUBLIC HOUSING

Abstract

With population numbers increasing by a projected 1.6 million in 2030(National Population and Talent Division, 2013), vertical urban expansion has gained traction as a feasible solution to Singapore’s spatial crunch. No longer a matter of choice, intense densification is essential to bridge divergent tensions between land and population expansions. Spaces that exemplify the essence of high-density living are consequently generated out of these new living conditions, acclimatizing users to the verticality. Inherent in Singapore’s public housing landscape, there has always been a social agenda towards facilitating the formation of community. In high-density public housing, this provision manifests itself in the form of elevated public spaces, which assumes multiple roles in response to the wider context and conditions. Established on the premise of elevated public spaces within Singapore’s housing estates as an increasingly inevitable phenomenon, this dissertation acknowledges the growing importance of such spaces in our urban habitat and seeks to understand its effectiveness as a communal bonding space. This research aims to understand and evaluate the impacts of design strategies used in existing elevated public space, before arriving at a framework of parameters that will optimize the design potential of future elevated public spaces towards strengthening the notion of community in Singapore.