Architecture
Research by design: Building resilient and vibrant townships of the future
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Using the design process itself as a form of inquiry, a multidisciplinary team reimagines Singapore’s future townships to adapt to an ageing society and a warming climate.
How often can someone get to say that their work impacts the everyday lives of hundreds of thousands of people? Try urban planning. As the global population continues to rise, the need for living, working and recreational spaces also follows suit. This then entails the more efficient use of land space, especially in a small, densely populated country like Singapore.
Through a research-by-design approach, Professor Heng Chye Kiang led a team to study the planning of Paya Lebar Air Base, which is slated for redevelopment in URA’s Master Plan 2025.
But efficiency can’t be the only consideration. Township designs must consider the impact on the people utilising the common spaces and the role of place-making, so they will be able to call their house a home. And this is exactly what Professor Heng Chye Kiang from the Department of Architecture at the College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, set out to do through a research-by-design approach, where the process of planning a real township becomes itself a vehicle through which new knowledge about how future cities should work is generated.
Commissioned by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, Prof Heng, together with colleagues including Associate Professor Fung John Chye from the same department, led a team to reimagine what the soon-to-be former military air base could be as a next generation township. The area that had housed Paya Lebar Air Base (PLAB) since 1980 started off as an amalgamation of Chinese and Malay villages, colloquially known as kampongs, and served as the site for Singapore’s second international airport from 1955.
The airport’s long history prompted Prof Heng and the team to preserve its core structure of a 4 km long airport runway, as well as several hangars, in order to memorialise their cultural importance. “The runway is like the central axis, or ‘spine’, of the site, aligned to catch the wind, it is an excellent channel for breezeways.
“We see Jurong Island as one integrated opportunity,” says Prof Lee, who is also the Programme Director of the STDCT project. “It is a place where ongoing industrial and energy developments can serve as living laboratories, helping us re-imagine how we design, power and cool AI-ready infrastructure in a hot, humid and resource-constrained setting.”
NESH’s impact is also taking shape in clean transport. A major cross-disciplinary project led by Professor Yang Wenming recently secured an $8.3 million grant to develop a next-generation ammonia marine engine with high efficiency and near-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative brings together expertise in combustion, materials, catalysis and fuel systems, and signals the maritime sector’s growing interest in green ammonia as a viable future fuel.
“Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement.”
It integrates the diverse elements of the township, from green corridors to bands of commercial and communal amenities. Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement,” says Prof Heng. The area would then also serve as the Airport Heritage Cluster, complementing the nearby Hougang and Pasir Ris Heritage Trails that the National Heritage Board is rolling out over the next few years.
“Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement.”
“Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement.”
Adapting to the needs of an ageing society
Singapore is no exception to the trend of falling birth rates among the more developed economies. By 2030, the proportion of Singaporeans aged 65 and above will reach a quarter, a number that will increase to a third by 2040. This makes Singapore one of the most rapidly ageing countries, and townships must adapt to this changing reality. “For example, most seniors typically do not walk more than 150 to 200 metres from their block, though this distance may be considerably shorter — or extend up to about 400 metres — depending on their mobility and journey experience.”
It is therefore no longer practical to stick to the older models of township design, with clusters of monofunctional zones — separated areas for residential living, commercial activities, recreation and more. What Prof Heng and his team are proposing is a novel planning model called The Band Concept. What this entails is that each functional zone is now laid out as a linear band, with different functional areas criss-crossing each other in a tic-tac-toe grid-like fashion. This allows residents to access a variety of amenities by foot, making the lives of residents more convenient, while simultaneously promoting active mobility
among the elderly.
Another key issue for an ageing society is ensuring that there are high rates of economic participation, in order to fund the higher costs associated with ageing. “The developments are designed to be mixed-use both horizontally and vertically. Within the podiums, you could house plant factories with artificial lighting, even indoor fish farms.
“Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement.”
“Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement.”
“Across the whole 20 square kilometres of the study area, we have planned to accommodate around 360,000 jobs, so that residents can find work very close to home.”
It integrates the diverse elements of the township, from green corridors to bands of commercial and communal amenities. Where planes once took to the skies, we imagine canoes racing along a canal, and in a way we preserve that sense of speed and movement,” says Prof Heng. The area would then also serve as the Airport Heritage Cluster, complementing the nearby Hougang and Pasir Ris Heritage Trails that the National Heritage Board is rolling out over the next few years.
Future-proofing the town
Research by the Centre for Climate Research Singapore has shown that the city-state will continue to get warmer through the decades ahead. The PLAB area would be more severely impacted as it has generally been hotter than the national average, primarily due to the high percentage of tarmac.
“But we see an opportunity to link it to the entire ecosystem of green biodiversity
on the island — connecting to Pulau Ubin, Coney Island, Pasir Ris Park, even East Coast Park, and to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. We not only retain the green areas but actually propose to increase them,” adds Prof Heng. And through the use of sophisticated modelling software, forested area and building heights were also designed to ensure optimal ventilation, while mitigating soil erosion and small particulates removal, among other environmental factors.
The redevelopment of PLAB, including the Defu neighbourhood as its first phase, is now gazetted in URA’s Draft Master Plan 2025, which guides Singapore’s development over the next 10 to 15 years. Prof Heng envisions that the runway will become a spine, and the new area will revive the kampong spirit in a new form. When the first family moves in, they will inherit a habitat designed to age with them and fend away the rising heat. That is the difference between urban planning in a dogmatic manner and an approach that is user-centric. And that is how a house becomes a home, not just for today, but for the many years to come.
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