Sustainable Urban Regions

• Sustainable urban neighborhoods are vital for creating a sustainable city.
• They prioritize economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
• They maintain a high enough population density to support businesses and infrastructure.
• They encompass a small population size to encourage interaction among residents and discussions.
• They prioritize environmental protection of nature.
• They ensure facilities support waste minimization and recycling.
• They adopt energy and water-efficient designs for buildings and landscapes.

Regions

• Regions are areas sharing similar physical and/or human characteristics.
• They vary in size and are classified by environmental, human, or geographical factors.
• Little Guilin in Bukit Batok is an example of a nature region.
• Jurong can be divided into a commercial region with industrial buildings and a residential region with homes.
• Singapore is divided into 5 regions.
• Regions can be the sphere of influence of services, events, and objects on other locations.
• Regions are the areas that Town Councils service, responsible for common areas in public housing.
• Regions can also be classified by electoral divisions, known as constituencies.

Spatial Patterns

• Spatial patterns are non-random arrangements identifiable as shapes, clusters, geometry, or repeated occurrences.
• Services, events, and objects often have non-random arrangements.
• Spatial patterns can be easily identified on maps.
• Recognizable shapes/geometry: Singapore’s Circle Line
• Clusters/concentrations: heavy industries in West Singapore (Tuas and Pioneer)
• Repeated occurrences at regular intervals: public bus stops at 400m intervals

Spatial Associations

• Spatial associations refer to the tendency of services, events, and objects to be located near each other.
• Lifts and stairwells are an example.
• Understanding spatial associations enhances everyday living.
• Train stations and bus interchanges are often near each other for convenient transfers.

Spatial Scales

• Spatial scales refer to the extent of an area where a phenomenon or process takes place.
• Scales include global, regional, and local.
• Knowing spatial scales helps us understand how events at one scale affect others.
• Examining phenomena at different scales provides different perspectives based on patterns and trends.
• Singapore has 24 towns and 3 estates spread across the island.

Towns of Singapore

• North: Sembawang, Woodlands, Yishun
• Northeast: Ang Mo Kio, Hougang, Punggol, Sengkang, Serangoon
• East: Bedok, Pasir Ris, Tampines
• West: Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Clementi, Jurong East, Jurong West, Tengah
• Central: Bishan, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Kallang/ Whampoa, Queenstown, Toa Payoh
• Each town has a town center with concentrated activities, serving as a commercial and social hub.

Spatial Hierarchies

• Singapore has nested areas of different sizes, starting with a single residential unit.
• A precinct consists of 400-800 residential units with nearby facilities.
• A neighborhood comprises a few precincts, serving 4,000-6,000 residents.
• A few neighborhoods make up a town.
• Town neighborhoods surround the town center for convenient access.

Town Planning

• Town planning in Singapore aims to serve residents and provide for nature at all levels.
• Land is allocated for housing, industrial and commercial development, roads, schools and parks.
• Precinct, neighborhood, and town facilities aim to enable self-sufficiency and provide employment.
• Long-term plans at the national level optimize scarce land resources for current and future needs.
• The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) coordinates long-term planning, reviewed every ten years.
• Singapore accommodates uses typically not in cities, such as military facilities and waste treatment plants.
• The Senoko Waste-to-Energy Plant manages pollution and provides benefits like job creation.

Sense of Place

• People develop a sense of place by associating importance, meanings, and memories with locations.
• Sense of place reflects the relationship people have with places.
• Sense of place is often derived from experiences with natural and built environments, and interactions with others.
• Experiences can be positive or negative.
• Sense of place is personal and subjective.
• A person’s sense of place in the same location can be different from another person’s sense of place.

Acquiring a Sense of Place

• Repeated encounters with objects and people help us recall features and associate meanings.
• Attachment develops to everyday places like town center shops due to interactions.
• Experiences with people in environments help us feel a sense of belonging.
• Sensory details like sounds and smells reinforce our sense of place.
• Significant events at local landmarks and gathering places create a sense of place.
• Landmarks serve symbolic or historical purposes.
• The Truss Bridges in Bukit Timah are associated with Singapore’s railway history.
• Landmarks hold positive and/or negative memories.

Housing

• Housing refers to structures that shelter people from the elements, and is a basic need.
• A fundamental human right to housing ensures access to a safe, secure, habitable, and affordable home.
• Cities grow faster than housing development, often causing shortages.
• UN-Habitat estimates 3 billion people will need adequate housing by 2030.
• Estimated 100 million people are homeless worldwide.
• One in four people live in harmful conditions.
• Housing in cities can be formal or informal.

Formal Housing

• Location: desirable land, free from pollution, near greenery, facilities, and infrastructure
• Characteristics: built by the government or private developers
• Can be public (subsidized) or private (expensive)
• Legal right to use the land to live in.
• Access to basic services.
• High-quality building materials (concrete, wood).

Informal Housing

• Location: areas of locally unwanted land-use such as landfills or near industrial sites
• Characteristics: Self-built in an unplanned fashion
• No legal right to use land.
• Often occupies undeveloped government or private property (squatter settlements).
• Lack of access to basic services, with illegal tapping onto nearby utilities.
• Poor building materials (zinc, recycled lumber).
• Houses are at risk of collapsing, flooding or fires.

Informal Housing in LDCs

• Self-built with flimsy materials.
• Examples: Dharavi (Mumbai), Rocinha (Rio), Kibera (Nairobi), Tondo (Manila).

Informal Housing in DCs

• Resembles "tent cities" or taking over abandoned buildings.
• Less permanent and routinely cleared.
• Examples: Skid Row (Los Angeles).

Factors Affecting Housing Location

• Land-use planning: zoning restricts land-use on specific sites.
• Developers: private developers seek commercially viable sites, public developers consider needs.
• Land prices: high in city centers, potentially leading to informal housing.
• Housing subsidies: government subsidies can lower building costs and prevent shortages.

Housing Impacts

• Use of natural resources: forested areas are cleared for housing and materials.
• Environmental pollution: pollution as the introduction of substances with harmful effects.
• Waste: causes soil contamination and land degradation.
• Water pollution: surface runoff, untreated sewage.
• Air pollution: burning of fossil fuels, firewood.
• Singapore data: waste disposed up seven-fold over 40 years (7.7 million tonnes in 2017).
• Semakau Landfill will run out of space by 2035.
• River Ciliwung is Jakarta's most polluted river due to sewage and waste.
• Slums in Chennai contribute to air pollution due to firewood use.

Impacts on People

• Poor living conditions: informal housing lacks shelter, water, electricity, and sanitation.
• Quality of life: formal housing has amenities and common spaces (transportation, schools, parks).
• Amenities are desirable or useful features of a place that make life easier for its residents.
• Common spaces help build community and inclusivity.
• Informal housing residents face eviction.
• 2012: 40,000 people evicted in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sustainable Housing Management

• Integrated land-use planning: stakeholders collaborate on development that meets economic, social, and environmental needs.
• Provision of inclusive public housing: caters to different groups (age, abilities).
• Environmental features in buildings: reduce energy consumption (solar panels).
• Improvements to the condition of slums:
• Self-help schemes: residents improve their own homes with material support.
• Partnerships between government and non-governmental organizations: improving housing conditions and infrastructure.