20th Century Planning
By the early 1900's Singapore already had an extensive sector of slum and squatter settlements. In 1927, the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was established to oversee improvements and developments of the area. One of their first projects they oversaw was a back lane program designed to reconstruct the unsanitary slum areas by constructing a lane between the back to back housing. Even though it did improve the slum areas, additional problems occurred. Living areas were reduced as a result of the demolition of many houses, which caused major housing shortages and overcrowding problems. By 1954, living conditions on a typical street in Chinatown were described as "among the most primitive in the urban areas of the world" (Perry 49). The Singaporean government decided it was time to act.
Most third world countries view housing as a social problem that will be fixed with economic success of the country, hoping the prosperity of the wealthy will trickle down to the poor. However, we know from experience that this is not usually the case. Singapore, on the other hand, decided to combat the problem of slums and squatter settlements from the beginning with planning and government intervention.
At this time the majority of the country's residents (over 1 million people) were all concentrated in rundown housing within 2-3 square kilometers of the central area. There was no zoning or land use plan of any kind creating a jumbled mix of residential, commercial, and industrial uses in the area.
In the early 1950's they started planning for the future. A Master Plan Committee was established in 1951 to suggest a plan to alleviate the persisting housing problems. Out of this committee came three points central to all of Singapore's planning:
An important factor in the success of these plans was the passing of the Land Acquision Act.
In 1955 the first Master Plan was completed. It was designed to act as a basis for physical planning by illustrated the proposed land use areas. While the Master Plans were designed to regulate land use and zoning of an area. Concept Plans were designed simply to guide proposals for the future. They are highly flexible to accommodate changes within a growing society.
Here is an example of the first Concept Plan:
Ring Concept Plan of 1971
Features of the plan:
The Ring Concept Plan Model