New towns of Singapore


The new town planning concept was introduced into Singapore with the building of the first new town of Singapore, Queenstown, from July 1952 to 1973 by the country's public housing authority, the Housing and Development Board. Today, the vast majority of the approximately 11,000 public housing buildings are organised into 23 towns and 3 estates across the country.
The new towns in Singapore are large scale satellite housing developments which are designed to be self contained. It includes public housing units, a town centre and other amenities. Helmed by a hierarchy of commercial developments, ranging from a town centre to precinct-level outlets, there is no need to venture out of town to meet the most common needs of residences. Employment can be found in industrial estates located within several towns. Educational, health care, and recreational needs are also taken care of with the provision of schools, hospitals, parks, sports complexes, and so on.
Singapore's expertise in successful new town design was internationally recognised when the Building and Social Housing Foundation of the United Nations awarded the World Habitat Award to Tampines Town, which was selected as a representative of Singapore's new towns, on 5 October 1992.

Background

Singapore in 1950s had a city centre surrounded by slums and squatter colonies. By 1959 when Singapore attained self government, the problem of housing shortage had grown. Combined with a fast population growth, it led to congestion and squalor. The Singapore Improvement Trust had been previously set up by the colonial government to solve the housing shortage. Although it built around 23000 dwelling units, it was not sufficient for the rapidly increasing population.
In 1958, the first Master Plan was formulated which recommend redistributing the population from the central area of the city to new towns in the suburbs. The SIT was dissolved in 1959 and subsequently, the Housing and Development Board was set up in 1960 to deal with the problem.

Towns

These statistics reflect the boundaries of HDB towns and are not necessarily the same as planning area statistics.
Name ChinesePinyinTamilTotal area Residential area Dwelling unitsProjected ultimatePopulation
Ang Mo Kio宏茂桥hóngmàoqiáoஆங் மோ கியோ6.382.8349,16958,000149,800
Bedok勿洛wùluòபிடோ9.374.1860,11579,000204,300
Bishan碧山bìshānபீஷான்6.901.7219,66434,00065,700
Bukit Batok武吉巴督wǔjíbādūபுக்கிட் பாத்தோக்7.852.9132,27553,000113,800
Bukit Merah红山hóngshānபுக்கிட் மேரா8.583.1251,88568,000147,000
Bukit Panjang武吉班让wǔjíbānràngபுக்கிட் பாஞ்சாங்4.892.1934,46344,000119,300
Choa Chu Kang蔡厝港càicuògǎngசுவா சூ காங்5.833.0742,39362,000161,100
Clementi金文泰jīnwéntàiகிளிமெண்டி4.122.0325,48039,00072,500
Geylang芽笼yálóngகேலாங்6.782.1429,25649,00091,900
Hougang后港hòugǎngஹவ்காங்13.093.6751,64672,000179,800
Jurong East裕廊东yùlángdōngஜூரோங்3.841.6523,37930,00080,300
Jurong West裕廊西yùlángxīஜூரோங்9.874.8071,75594,000260,000
Kallang/Whampoa加冷／黄浦jiālĕng/huángpǔகாலாங்7.992.1035,74057,000105,500
Pasir Ris巴西立bāxīlìபாசிர் ரிஸ்6.013.1829,20744,000111,000
Punggol榜鵝bǎng'éபொங்கோல்9.573.7435,51596,00099,500
Queenstown女皇镇nǚhuángzhènகுவீன்ஸ்டவுன்6.942.1030,54660,00082,100

Sembawang		三巴旺sānbāwàngசெம்பவாங்7.083.3120,31165,00071,600
Sengkang盛港shènggǎngசெங்காங10.553.9759,49792,000186,500
Serangoon实龙岗shílónggāngசிராங்கூன்7.371.6321,29330,00073,000
Tampines淡滨尼dànbīnníதெம்பினிஸ்12.005.4966,599110,000239,100
Toa Payoh大巴窑dàbāyáoதோ பாயோ5.562.4836,43961,000107,500
Woodlands兀兰wùlánஊட்லண்ட்ஸ்11.984.8062,67598,000243,100
Yishun义顺yìshùnயீஷூன்7.783.9856,69884,000186,600

Estates

These statistics reflect the boundaries of HDB estates and are not necessarily the same as planning area statistics.
Name ChinesePinyinTamilDwelling unitsPopulation
Bukit Timah武吉知马–புக்கித் திமா2,42388,000
Marine Parade马林百列–மரின் பரேட்6,53734,300
Central Area新加坡中區–சிங்கப்பூர் மாவட்டம்9,45923,300