Building resilience: Rebounding and thriving from shocks and crises

From exploring an underground city in Orchard Road, to rethinking our building designs and creating flood simulations, National University of Singapore’s Emeritus Professor Yong Kwet Yew reflects on how to build a resilient city that includes citizens’ participation. 

What does a resilient city mean to you? 

Kwet Yew: A resilient city is one that has robust, flexible and adaptive strategies, systems, infrastructure, resources and networks that allow us to rebound quickly from shocks and crises. It is one that allows us to resume normal functions soon after and even grow from such experiences to be better prepared. This can happen even if we face extreme incidents and circumstances that are unforeseen and unanticipated. I believe being resilient has long been in Singapore’s DNA since independence, where we have been able to bounce back and grow better and stronger from each crisis faced over the years, be it financial or a pandemic. 

Singapore’s far-sighted and integrated planning process that anticipates and caters for both long-term and more immediate needs and demands has helped to ensure our resilience and sustainability over time.

Besides having far-sighted and rigorous planning processes in place in shaping a liveable and sustainable environment, Singapore’s strong framework of total defence that covers military, civil, economic, social, digital security, as well as psychological defence, helps to ensure we have strong energy, water and food security, essential elements for survival.  

A key aspect of building Singapore’s resilience over the years is in how we have been creatively optimising our land. We are now developing strategic plans in using our underground space. Why is this important?

Kwet Yew: While we have a limited 735 square kilometres of land at the ground level, we have the potential of tapping more into our underground space. Having underground plans enable us to better coordinate and safeguard underground spaces for infrastructure, storage and utilities more effectively and efficiently. It also enables us to explore new possibilities for the future. 

Insights from a global benchmarking study of 10 cities including Singapore by Arup and URA to explore best practices and future possibilities in making best use of underground spaces. Image: Arup. (View high res image [png, 528 KB]) 

If the underground space is not safeguarded strategically upfront, then the use and access of underground space may end up becoming a first-come-first-serve basis which is happening in some cities. This can become more costly and complicated to manage down the road. 

You once shared that Orchard Road could potentially have an underground city in future.

Kwet Yew: The most famous underground city is in Montreal. It is an underground pedestrian network that links its train stations to shopping plazas over 33 kilometres. This was not built overnight and was developed over many years, and it has provided comfort to the many users from the harsh winters above ground.  

For Orchard Road, I believe there is potential for us to create a more continuous underground network from Orchard Road all the way to Marina Bay. This is something which we can progressively build over time. Such a network can become a conducive place shielding pedestrians from the harsh sun or the heavy rain. This can offer additional space for us to enjoy without having to use up or extend more developments above ground. It can also make Orchard Road even more attractive with more shopping and leisure options for people. 

On preparing for sea level rise, what is one critical consideration we need to bear in mind in guiding our coastal protection efforts?

Kwet Yew: While we now have a better idea of how we can prepare for sea level rise¹, we still do not know exactly how much the sea level will rise in future. We cannot predict with certainty how much and how fast the ice will melt or how climate change effects will change over time. 

An illustrative plan for the future ‘Long Island’ that can protect East Coast from sea level rise and meet multiple national needs including flood resilience, water security, and providing new recreational opportunities. 

What if we plan for the worst-case scenario and build a wall to cater for a five-metre sea level rise, but this does not happen? If we need to build walls in future, how can we ensure that our foundations are able to support future builds?

There are many different variables and scenarios we need to prepare for. Thus, an important aspect of our preparations is to focus on developing adaptive and flexible plans. This is so that we can continue to adjust and fine tune along the way as we learn more with additional data and insights.

How can citizens contribute to Singapore’s coastal protection efforts?  

Kwet Yew: I think it is important that the community plays an active role in co-creating our coastline together. Beyond developing our coastline to support economic activities, our coastal areas have a lot of community value too. 

A dialogue session as part of PUB’s ‘Our Coastal Conversation’ on seeking community feedback on coastal protection. Image: PUB. 

In carrying out our coastal protection efforts, it is the best time to ask communities, especially those living near coastal areas, on the kind of coastline they would like to see in future, the types of water activities and other elements they would like to see more of. 

It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to engage people now. If we don’t, then 50 years down the road, our grandchildren or great grandchildren may question the outcomes of our decision-making today. 

According to the UNEP’s Global Status Report, buildings and construction account for over 34 per cent of energy demand and around 37 per cent of energy and process-related CO2 emissions in 2021. How should we approach the development of new buildings and construction in the future?

Kwet Yew: We should focus more on how we can adapt and repurpose our existing buildings where possible. But for some of our older buildings, they were built at a time where the mechanical and electrical (M&E) requirements may be nominal compared to today. In trying to refurbish our older buildings with heavier M&E requirements, it may make more sense for some to demolish and build new buildings. 

If we really need to build, we could do it sustainably by reusing and recycling materials from our demolished buildings. In countries like Germany, they have developed their own machines to turn 100 per cent of their road rubble into recycled aggregates to be reused for road construction and development². If this can be done for road rubble, the same can be explored for buildings too. 

If we can’t get enough of such aggregates, then we must be very serious about using low-embodied carbon materials. As such materials are more expensive, perhaps we can aggregate the demand for it and explore creative ways of procuring the material more cost effectively.  

How has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced our building designs?

Kwet Yew: The pandemic has made us become more aware and conscious that we need to rethink the way we design our buildings. As an institutional developer, I’ve personally learnt that we need to move away from designing buildings that only have enclosed windows which cannot be opened. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we now realise that we need to design for good ventilation so fresh air can flow through, within our buildings and around them. 

Grab, the Singapore-based technology company, has become more intentional in the design of its headquarters to cater for people’s changing work patterns and needs. Image: Grab Holdings Inc.

These insights informed the design of our upcoming headquarters, where we are taking on a much more task-oriented space planning approach for its interior design.

In addition, we are also changing the way we work with many hybrid options. As many of us may be working from home or from a variety of other places, it means that at any one point in time, we are not utilising all our office spaces. The challenge is in designing for the right amount of space needed and having the flexibility to adapt our spaces to people’s changing working norms. 

Beyond having robust plans and infrastructure in place to strengthen our resilience, isn't it also about building community and individual resilience? 

Kwet Yew: At the individual and community level, resilience is about how we can recover quickly from disasters to resume normal life. For example, when we experience flooding, there is no point whining about it. Some of our activities may be affected by the flood. We cannot drive for a while, or we cannot go somewhere. But as we have good drainage and mitigation measures in place, the flood usually recedes within an hour or so. We can get back to normal life after a quick clean-up.  

With heavier rainfall over the years, there is potential flooding in areas across Singapore including the East Coast Park as shown above. There are many mitigation measures in place to enable us to recover quickly from flooding. Image: PUB. 

This is what I call being resilient. This is something we should not take for granted. Other cities may take days, weeks or months to recover from flooding. The next question is how much faster we can recover from flooding. PUB is always pushing the envelope. Firstly, it is to try to ensure that any place in Singapore will not be flooded but this can be costly. If we cannot prevent a flood due to extreme rainfall events, can we recover in an even shorter time?

It is also about building mental resilience. In the Philippines for example, typhoons happen periodically during the year. The citizens have time to recover and get back to normal life to prepare for the next one. But if this happens more often and sometimes in succession, it can feel very exhausting and demoralising. 

Building resilience should not just be a whole-of-government effort, but a whole-of-nation effort. Every one of us has a part to play. The Japanese have a very robust model that teaches its citizens on what to do whenever they face natural disasters. It is ingrained in their DNA. They do not need to wait for the government to tell them what to do. In Hong Kong, their science museum educates people on what to do during typhoons by simulating it. In Singapore, we could simulate what flooding feels like and perhaps teach practical skills like how you can protect your property or how to get out of your car safely during major floods. 

^{1 Mean sea levels are expected to rise by one metre by 2100 and could jump by four metres or five metres when sinking land, storm surges (abnormally high tide due to a storm) and daily tidal activity are taken into consideration. Around 30 per cent of Singapore’s land area is less than five metres above mean sea level.} 

^{2 In Singapore, the Building Construction Authority, the National Environment Agency, together with the Construction value chain are recycling waste materials from construction and demolition works into construction materials such as recycled concrete aggregates. These sustainable construction initiatives have paid off, with 99 per cent recycling rates achieved consistently over the years.}

About Yong Kwet Yew
An Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering and former Senior Vice President (Campus Infrastructure) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Yong Kwet Yew oversaw the sustainable planning, development and operations of campus infrastructure at NUS’s Kent Ridge and Bukit Timah Campuses including the University Town. His research is a microcosm of the infrastructure development in Singapore. In the late 1980s, his research with several colleagues on land reclamation led to an award-winning layered clay-sand scheme of reclamation using marine clay as an alternative to sand-only fill for reclamation. In the 2000s, with the rapid development of underground transportation, his focus was on the effects of tunnelling on nearby buildings. In the 2010s, his interest has been on sustainable development. He is also the Chairman of PUB’s Expert Panel on Coastal Protection.