More than just physical spaces, great places lift our spirits and connect us with one another. They reflect the essence of the people who inhabit them, and are more meaningful when created and shaped by the communities who use the space.
We want to create spaces that connect people and foster stronger relationships among the community. Well-designed, quality public spaces let people interact, linger, or just enjoy the ambience, and contribute to creating memorable experiences. We have worked closely with building owners and architects to incorporate such spaces as part of their developments.
Places come alive when local communities, business operators and property owner stake greater ownership of their neighbourhood. They are best placed to implement ideas and solutions that meet their needs. In turn, the neighbourhood benefits from these improvements. We work closely with them through our Streets for People programme and Lively Places Programme to create more attractive streets and public spaces for visitors and businesses.
More stakeholders including business owners and local communities are working in partnership to activate and promote their precincts.
With growing interest in placemaking, the pilot Business Improvement District (BID) programme is being implemented in 10 precincts — China Place, City Hall, Jurong East, Kampong Glam, Marina Bay, Marina Centre, Paya Lebar, Raffles Place, Singapore River, and Tanjong Pagar — to support sustainable private sector-led place management at a precinct level.
Imagine indulging in retail therapy at an artisanal bazaar in the heart of a cultural district, or immersing in public art performances and lifestyle experiences within the grounds of our first purpose-built civil airport.
In our vision for a more dynamic, delightful and diverse city, we recognise the importance of our state properties and public spaces in contributing to the charm and character of the precincts, and in making our places loveable and endearing.
We hope to work with the private sector, including business owners, architects, designers, and developers, to reimagine how these spaces can come alive with new interim uses.
URA and SLA will jointly launch a public call for innovative, bold yet sensitive proposals to testbed new uses and ideas for some of our State properties and public spaces islandwide!
Look out for the sites to be announced in the coming months!
These sites range from shophouse units, stand-alone buildings, utility infrastructure to open spaces.