Opinion: Arts and Heritage – The Soul of a City with a Nation’s Heartbeat

In 2025, Singapore celebrates 60 years of nationhood since achieving independence in 1965 as a city-state. An old soul in a new nation, Singapore has a multicultural heritage rooted in ancient Asian civilisations, and is situated in the vibrant region of Southeast Asia at the confluence of trade, investment and people flows.

With a tiny land size of just over 730 km², Singapore has more than 75 monuments, 62 museums, 1 UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Singapore Botanic Gardens and more than 7,200 conserved buildings. These capture the essence of our rich past while reflecting our modernity in creative uses of built heritage and commemoration of intangible heritage.

Across our Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network, several stations have designs and public art which reflect distinctive characteristics of their cultural precincts such as in Little India, Kampong Gelam, Chinatown, and the Civic District. Singapore’s diverse intangible cultural heritage—including food, social practices, festivals and crafts—is embedded within our built heritage, some in the form of heritage businesses. Today, Singapore’s hawker culture and the traditional kebaya, the latter of which was nominated for inscription through a multinational effort, are recognised on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These efforts bear testimony to Singapore’s sustained commitment for over six decades to infuse arts into the city and preserve our cultural identity while balancing the needs of present and future generations.

Located at the Little India MRT station, Woven Field by Grace Tan is a glimmering installation made of aluminium; inspired by traditional Indian saris — the tessellated triangular patterns interlacing architecture and artwork (National Arts Council)

Value of Arts and Heritage to a City's Liveability

In the 2023 Population Survey on the Arts conducted by the National Arts Council (NAC), 75% of Singaporeans surveyed indicated that the arts and culture improve our quality of life. Close to 80% felt that the arts and culture give them a greater sense of belonging to Singapore. In the 2024 Heritage Awareness Survey commissioned by the National Heritage Board (NHB), 90% of respondents affirmed the importance of heritage buildings and sites in contributing to the country’s unique identity. These findings suggest that Singapore is a unique global city where the arts and heritage have contributed to building a distinctive and endearing home anchored with treasured memories, emotions, connections and identity.

Beyond its immediate intrinsic value, there has also been much research on the value of the arts in health and wellness, as seen in the 2019 evidence report on the arts and health by the World Health Organization. The report includes a scoping review which maps the evidence of arts and health under two themes: prevention and promotion, and management and treatment. It presents findings that demonstrate the beneficial role of the arts in the care sector, such as in supporting child development, preventing ill health, providing care for people with acute conditions, and assisting with the management of noncommunicable diseases. These are dimensions that contribute to the quality of life in a city, and ultimately to its liveability.

NAC has laid strong foundations over the past 20 years to significantly widen access to the arts. Today, high quality public art can be enjoyed in commercial and community spaces beyond the walls of museums and galleries. Notably, the PAssionArts Festival hosted by the People’s Association (PA), and ArtsEverywhere@CDC presented by the NAC and PA, in collaboration with Singapore’s Community Development Councils (CDCs), have brought arts experiences to communities where they live, work and play. The large diversity of inclusive and accessible programmes is enjoyed by all segments of society, bringing communities together and forging a strong sense of identity.

Integrative Upstream Planning for Optimal Outcomes

To preserve our built heritage as tangible representations of our history and cultural identity while allowing our cityscape to evolve, there has been upstream integration of heritage considerations in Singapore’s land use planning. Since 2019, the NHB has worked with the URA to identify sites of heritage significance and put in place safeguarding and mitigation measures where these are affected by development plans. The NHB also works with the HDB to conserve the identity of estates in their built environments. For instance, artefacts from the memorial garden of the former cemetery in the redeveloped Bidadari Estate have been integrated into the estate’s new scenic parklands. Likewise, four historical buildings from the Old Police Academy will be conserved within a new housing estate, contributing to its distinctive characteristics.

To enhance current efforts in preserving our heritage, upstream integration of the arts would be a significant next step to further enliven our spaces and engage residents. While dedicated arts spaces have significantly expanded to almost 94,000 m²,* upfront design of townships and precincts can unlock more space through identification of suitable sites which can be enhanced through the arts.

Innovative space design for multiple uses, including the arts, is another sustainable response to land scarcity for a growing population which has attained a high standard of living. While developers may have concerns that such designs would incur time delays, additional costs and trade-offs with other potential use cases, we have seen both locally and internationally that this is feasible and impactful for the communities involved. Here at home, the Botanical Art Gallery, housed within the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ Gallop Extension, enhances the beauty of the Gardens and highlights the important role that art plays in the scientific documentation of plants.

In Melbourne, Library at The Dock offers multi-purpose spaces for meetings, performances and community workshops, cementing itself as a destination for locals and visitors alike. Of a larger scale in Tokyo is the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, a mixed-use skyscraper which houses the Mori Art Museum on its 53rd and 54th floors. The tower, together with the larger Roppongi Hills development, was opened in 2003 after 3 years of construction to the cost of ¥270 billion (S$4.32 billion). Since then, the museum has proven a worthy investment which has transformed and uplifted Roppongi as an international cultural destination, boosting footfall which in turn benefits local businesses such as restaurants, cafes and shops.

In commercial and private spaces, support for community and cultural spaces has been incentivised by offering an increase in gross floor area allowance. Beyond this approach, there is potential to reap further benefits by implementing guidelines that require the inclusion of social and community activities especially in the arts and heritage. Existing examples are Funan Mall and Bugis+ which today already house major arts organisations. The expansion and activation of everyday spaces, coupled together with strong arts and heritage programming, will allow for a more vibrant and culturally rich environment, enhancing the overall liveability of Singapore.

Engaging Hearts and Minds to Build a Home

Our current infrastructure and town planning processes already incorporate time and space for extensive public consultation and engagement. A strong case can be made to further leverage the arts and heritage for meaningful engagements that can appeal to every segment of society beyond professional and expert stakeholder groups. In particular, with Singapore’s shifting demographics, our youths are more socially engaged and our senior citizens are contributing more actively to society. Citizen feedback from a range of voices across our society on what they desire for cultural pursuits will allow greater accessibility to the arts and heritage. The creativity of our people can be unlocked to inspire designs of our urban architecture that can relate beyond the physical dimensions to the intangibles of emotions, memories and aspirations. This process is a means to give the population a sense of agency, ownership and belonging to the towns they live in.

Ultimately, a high quality of life requires purposeful and integrative thinking to ensure that the intangibles of identity and culture differentiate a city and enhance the sense of belonging for its residents. The arts and heritage can respond to the next lap of Singapore’s development as a liveable city that is also a loveable home.

Volunteers interviewed heritage businesses such as Haji V Syed Abu Thahir Trading during the NHB Kampong Gelam Citizen Engagement Project, in which heritage businesses were documented in a digital map and booklet (National Heritage Board)

*Sum of gross floor areas of arts housing spaces and performance venues, and diversified arts spaces tracked by NAC in 2023. This excludes other arts spaces which exist in private and commercial spaces. Diversified arts spaces refer to spaces under the purview of other agencies and landowners utilised for the arts.