The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore's national land use planning authority. URA prepares long term strategic plans, as well as detailed local area plans, for physical development, and then co-ordinates and guides efforts to bring these plans to reality. Prudent land use planning has enabled Singapore to enjoy strong economic growth and social cohesion, and ensures that sufficient land is safeguarded to support continued economic progress and future development.
Given Singapore's small size, judicious land use planning is critical for the nation's future. We have to take into consideration not just the needs of the city but all the needs of an independent nation and provide sufficient land for economic growth and future development.
Our Mission
Our mission is to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play in. We carry out our mission by planning and facilitating the physical development of Singapore, in partnership with the community, to create a vibrant, sustainable and cosmopolitan city of distinction
Challenges
With a limited land area of about 699 sq km, we face immense challenges in land use planning to house the needs of a nation state.
Not all the land area can be developed. For example, water catchment areas already take up 40 per cent of the land area. Height restrictions imposed by our airports on buildings limit how high some of our buildings can go. For instance, flats in housing towns in Tampines, Simei and Changi cannot exceed 12 storeys because of the flight paths of planes from Changi International Airport. Land also has to be set aside for military uses.
Our challenge is to find smart solutions so that there will always be space for all our needs. One way is to create new land by reclamation off our seashore. The other way is to make the most of the land we already have. We intensify land use by locating various facilities together instead of separately. For example, we locate stormwater collection ponds under road flyovers; we build stack factories; we go underground; we locate train stations and bus stations over each other. We also constantly find ways to minimise constraints on development by using technology such as cleaner power station fuel to reduce buffer zones of pollutive factories, or we group such industries together and relocate them off shore.
Our Culture
We have a strong culture of achieving work excellence through the SPIRIT. SPIRIT represents our core values – Service, Passion, Integrity, Respect, Innovation and Teamwork. The SPIRIT guides our daily interactions in the office and with our customers.
Our Workplace
We strive to make URA a great place to work, develop and grow in. Our staff are well taken care of, both at work and at play.
Our People
We have a strong team of urban planners, architects, system analysts, property research officers and other support staff who are dedicated and committed to achieving our mission.
We have a rigorous career development framework to develop and groom our officers to their fullest potential. Promising officers are presented with training opportunities and overseas postgraduate scholarships to ensure they remain relevant in the fast-changing world.
We also take good care of the health and family life of our staff. For our efforts and commitment, we were awarded the Platinum H.E.A.L.T.H Award and Work-Life Achiever Award. We help our working mothers who have to juggle work and home through the part-time working scheme. A flexible reporting time scheme was also implemented to give our staff some flexibility in arranging their work hours.
URA is not all work and no play. We have a well-equipped in-house recreation hub offering a wide range of facilities such as gym, squash courts, table tennis, karaoke lounge, etc. We have an active programme of exercises like aerobics, yoga, taiji classes that staff can participate during lunch-time or after office hours.