Raffles's Plan

Stamford Raffles, a representative from the East India Company, had big plans for Singapore from the moment he laid eyes on the island. He began envisioning the layout of the city even before the British had complete control of the area, writing his Plan of the Town of Singapore. in 1822. The remodeling and developmement of the town centered on the mercantile sector. In his plan, the commercial areas were given the best building sites, within easy access of the port.

To begin with, an area along the coast approximately 5 km long and 1 km wide was set aside for the government and commercial quarter. A hill was leveled and swamp areas filled in to prepare for the core of the commercial area. The central point of this area was an expansive open space on the north bank of the Singapore river devoted soley to public purposes and dominated by the church, government officies and court house buildings all opening out onto the central square. He emphasized the importance of open, orderly arrangement, uniformity, and regularity in these public areas.

Also characteristic of Raffles's plan was the segregation of the residential areas. 'European Town' occupied the area east of the open public space, while the Chinese resided in the area west of the Singapore River juxtapose to the commercial district. Chinatown was divided even further into different groups. The other groups such as the Bugis, Arabs, Chulias, and Malays were relegated to the peripheral areas, away from 'European Town".

The city was based on a basic grid pattern with the streets and highways running at right angles and rectangular plots of land. The amount of space each house could occupy was even predetermined so that the number of houses on each block was uniform. The motive of the grid pattern was not strictly organization. It also stimulated growth within the area. "... by setting out the whole town at once, creating in a sense an artificial scarcity, and by parcelling out urban lots in standard rectangular blocks that could easily by surveyed, described and transferred on standard leagal documents, the grid favored speculation and rising urban land prices" (Perry 29).

The turn of the century characteristics of the city were as follows:

Western-style CBD (central business district)

An expansive commercial square housing the Post Office, banks, trading agencies, and other similar institutions

A government administration quarter located across the river from the commercial district

SeparateAsian districts characterized by specialized trade areas, bazaars, and densly packed housing

Already by this time Singapore was plagued by problems of inadequate infastructure brought on by rapid growth. The government set up many programs and implemented extensive planning to combat these problems as they moved into the twentieth century.

To 20th Century Planning

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