Multi-Stakeholder Roundtable on “Enabling Future Liveable Towns and Districts”

The Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and the Seoul Institute (SI) co-organised a Roundtable on Enabling Future Liveable Towns and Districts held in Singapore. It was attended by 22 participants across Seoul Institute (SI), Seoul Housing Corporation (SH), and government agencies from Singapore including the Ministry of National Development (MND), Housing and Development Board (HDB), Jurong Town Corporation (JTC), Land Transport Authority (LTA), and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). The session also included a guest participant from Barcelona’s Centre for Innovation in Transport (CENIT), one of CLC’s knowledge partners.

Towns and districts affect urban dwellers’ individual lived experiences and quality of life in a city. Their structure and design directly shape one’s daily movements and interaction with the urban environment. As urban populations age, there has been a growing focus on health and well-being. Alongside this, changes in live-work preferences and a stronger push for sustainable lifestyles have prompted cities to explore new urban models and typologies that can respond to future needs and deliver better liveability outcomes. Some emerging models advocate for more localised, self-sufficient towns and districts with a diverse mix of amenities and uses that are well-connected and accessible by public and active mobility modes, to help to wean off dependency on cars and long commutes.

Representatives from SI, CENIT and HDB kicked off the session by sharing on urban models and town typologies in Seoul, Barcelona and Singapore respectively that have been developed to better adapt to ageing societies and evolving needs of residents. Participants then discussed the challenges involved in transitioning to these models and typologies, especially given the brownfield context of many of these cities. SI shared that Seoul’s ageing infrastructure which include large clusters of low-rise ageing buildings, provide a timely opportunity for comprehensive redevelopment and infrastructure renewal, which their 50 “micro Seouls” concept, part of the overall 100-year plan, was intended to spearhead. Participants agreed that with the changing demographic trends and aspirations, they is a dire need to develop new urban models to support social needs and better liveability. As it may not be practical for everything to be within a 15-minute reach, participants emphasised on the importance of stakeholder engagement and dialogues to understand the priorities in accessibility and for effective solutions that are tailored to the unique context and spatial layout of each of the districts.

The session also included sharing by SI and LTA on sustainable mobility initiatives in Seoul and Singapore respectively, focusing on both inter and intra town accessibility. SI shared on their plans to incorporate autonomous vehicles (AVs) into Seoul’s public transport services. There were currently 6 pilot sites, consisting a mix of on-demand services, fixed-time shuttle services and inter-town bus services. SI stressed the importance of strengthening infrastructure support for successful implementation and expansion of the AV services, such as the provision of Control Centres to monitor operation, as well as advanced bus stops with smart sensors and designated detection areas. Commuter usage and feedback have been positive so far, and Seoul plans to expand the services with new bus routes serving lower income areas and extending service hours to support night-time economy workers.

Meanwhile, LTA’s sharing emphasised active mobility through the provision of infrastructure such as cycling pathways which will be doubled to 1,300km by 2030, and road-based initiatives such as Friendly Streets and the North-South Corridor (NSC). The aim of Friendly Streets is to create safer and more inclusive neighbourhood streets for residents by lowering traffic speeds in designated areas with the use of traffic calming measures and enhanced walking and cycling features. The NSC is envisaged as a multi-modal transport corridor connecting the northern parts of Singapore to the city centre, with an underground expressway for cars that would allow for existing at-grade roads to be repurposed for public buses and public spaces to support active mobility.

The participants next discussed about how cities were harnessing new technology to track the performance of urban initiatives, which would help to facilitate further adjustments to achieve the desired outcomes. SH also shared on the Magok Smart City project which was planned as a living lab to support public-private partnerships and focused on creating innovative, citizen-centric urban solutions. Participants highlighted the importance of close collaboration and coordination between different stakeholders in developing integrated solutions, as well as the need for more cost-efficient ways to pilot and scale up smart city concepts.

JTC shared on Punggol Digital District (PDD) - envisaged as Singapore’s smart district under its Smart Nation Initiative - with a strong focus on seamless integration of digital technology and physical infrastructure to bring about improved liveability to users of the district. For both Magok Smart City and PDD, participants noted the importance of diversifying the use-mix to attract diverse communities, including the provision of affordable housing within the districts for younger workers. The insights from this roundtable will help supplement CLC’s ongoing research study on the Future of Urban Liveability which looks at how Singapore’s town planning models could evolve and be future-proofed to incorporate better integration of work-live environments and human-centric mobility for better health and liveability outcomes in the long term.

Contributed by:

Agnes Won
Senior Assistant Director
Research