Getting to know Singapore’s urban heritage

Source : Business Times - 18 Apr 2009

A BOHEMIAN artists’ enclave in Tanjong Pagar, ’secret gardens’ in Chinatown and skate parks at Duxton Hill Park. These are some of the winning ideas generated by the inaugural Challenge for the Urban and Built Environment or CUBE.

The event, organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), is aimed at raising awareness of the built environment and the dynamics of land use and urban planning among junior college and polytechnic students, and getting them familiar with Singapore’s urban heritage.

The three-day workshop and competition is part of URA’s Architecture and Urban Design Excellence Programme, an initiative to promote quality architecture and urban design. URA said yesterday that 10 teams, comprising about 100 students and teachers from seven junior colleges and three polytechnics, took part in the event.

The winning teams were Hwa Chong Institution, which clinched first prize, followed by Temasek Polytechnic and Serangoon Junior College.

URA chief executive officer Cheong Koon Hean said: ‘URA turns 35 this year. Marking this milestone with an urban planning competition for students creates more awareness of Singapore’s built environment and stirs interest among our bright young students in becoming the planners and architects of the future.’

During the three-day workshop, students aged 16-25 were introduced to the basics of architecture, urban planning and design. Interviews and observations were also conducted on the human and traffic patterns of parts of Chinatown. And a panel of judges from URA and industry provided critiques.

The teams were judged on sensitivity and relevance to site context and environment, creativity, clarity of ideas, execution of ideas, visual and verbal presentation skills and level of teamwork and cooperation displayed.

CUBE extends URA’s efforts to engage the younger generation. Urban planning workshops - the Young Urbanist Programme and Design My Place - have previously been conducted with primary and secondary school students.

These activities are aimed at helping a growing number of students better appreciate Singapore’s built environment and learn more about architecture and urban planning.