| Limits
of land use
A COMMITTEE which crunched opinion on land use for the Urban
Redevelopment Authority's next 10-yearly Concept Plan review did
not offer startling departures from the norm. If you have to
cram 5.5 million people into this island, and there is a
projected land shortfall of 4,000 ha, you just have to pare off
unproductive use. It recommends high-density building in all its
variations, but leaving enough room for green spaces. Land for
industry and infrastructure is not static, as automation and
updated road designs can bring savings. Still, though the
5.5-million figure is a notional one for planning purposes to
cover the next four decades or so, urban planners are no doubt
aware of the variables. Three aspects of the report merit
comment.
First, there would be wide public approval for the
recommendation that no more golf courses be built. The 1991
Concept Plan had provided for 29 courses. The existing 22
courses use up 1,400 ha, the size of 2 1/2 Ang Mo Kios. It is
not a lot of land, but 22 courses for a city-nation is plenty.
To turn over more space for a minority sport when it could be
put to wider public use in the form of parkland is hard to
justify on the ground of social equity. The committe is right to
say reclaimed land available for interim use before it is
developed should 'benefit more Singaporeans'. Weekend golfers
(which almost all are) need only reorientate their mental frame
to regard the many golf clubs in Malaysia's southern states as
part of an extended network. Then, the hankering after a 'home'
club will be less acute.
The committee is on less sure ground, however, when it asks
that Pulau Ubin, Tekong and the Southern Islands be not
despoiled by urban and overtly commercial development. The
argument that the islets' rustic charm and biodiversity in the
form of coral reefs and mangrove stands be preserved is noble.
Urban planners had better brace themselves for a spirited joust
with environmentalists, who are an erudite breed here. But,
sadly, it is romanticism that may be slipping increasingly out
of reach as growth expands in all directions on the mainland.
The tourism board has plans for a resort in the Southern Islands
of St John's, Lazarus and Seringat. On Ubin and Tekong,
reclamation is targeted to reach 3,310 ha and plans call for an
HDB town and leisure developments. The offshore islands have
sooner or later to fall in line. Residential development should,
where possible, be done delicately to preserve the ambience.
Sentosa is a fine example of conservation going hand in hand
with commercial, recreational and residential planning.
Third, the need for higher gross plot ratios the committee
proposes for the new Marina South Downtown (from 5 to 8) and
certain HDB and private locations (2.5 to 3.65) is self-evident,
given two assumptions. These are a higher residential
population, including transient foreigners, and the limits of
reclamation. Taller blocks are inevitable. The panel uses the
term Manhattan-style housing. It offers the example of the
150-storey Millennium Tower in Tokyo. An imponderable to
consider is soil stability in the new Downtown. This must
influence how high up the URA can permit buildings. Osaka's
Kansai airport built on reclaimed land offers a chastening
thought. It has begun to sink and buckle six years after it
opened, with flooding a problem. The land had settled a
comfortable 10 m when work on the airport began in 1990. At its
opening, planners had calculated a maximum 11.5-m subsidence
after 50 years. Miscalculation? There is a lesson here.
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