Singapore then and now: Liu Thai Ker planned 20 of 24 HDB towns, here’s what they looked like on paper

SINGAPORE – When Dr Liu Thai Ker died in January at the age of 87, many tributes hailed the loss of Singapore’s “father of urban planning”.

Over a two-decade career at the Housing Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Dr Liu oversaw the planning of 20 of Singapore’s 24 HDB towns and more than 500,000 housing units.

To uncover the scale of the island’s transformation under pioneering planners like Dr Liu, The Straits Times reached out to URA and the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) for material that could illustrate how these planners turned blueprints into reality.

Some of these plans, shared by URA and NAS, are being made publicly accessible online for the first time.

Singapore’s pre-independence master plan

Singapore’s first satellite towns were developed under the 1958 Master Plan, a colonial blueprint to create three self-sufficient new towns outside the city centre. These early towns reflected British architecture and urban planning principles.

Queenstown was the first of these. Named in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, it was built by the Singapore Improvement Trust.

HDB launched Toa Payoh as its first post-independence and high-density town after the dissolution of the Singapore Improvement Trust in 1960.

Dr Liu was recruited as head of HDB’s Design and Research Unit in 1969, before becoming HDB’s chief executive in 1979 and URA’s chief executive and chief planner in 1989.

The 1971 concept plan

By 1971, Singapore had introduced a concept plan which established the Central Business District, as well as a ring structure of satellite towns around the central water catchment area.

Unlike earlier master plans, this plan was an islandwide blueprint that sought to relieve the overcrowded city centre by dispersing residents into high-density satellite towns. These hubs would be connected to the CBD via expressways and a future MRT network.

The plan also made some consequential changes with a lasting impact on Singapore’s urban landscape. It proposed moving Singapore’s main international airport from Paya Lebar to Changi and setting aside Jurong for industry.

The 1970s saw a transformation in Singapore’s urban planning principles, moving away from the low-density, British-derived neighbourhood layouts inherited from the colonial era – as well as the rush-to-build mode of HDB’s first decade – towards a more self-contained town design.

Ang Mo Kio, which began construction in 1973, was the first to be built under this new model. This approach to urban planning meant a central town ringed by neighbourhoods with their own amenities, such as hawker centres, schools and parks.

Changing approach to urban planning

The 1980s saw further revision to Singapore’s approach to urban planning, with the introduction of the precinct as the basic planning unit.

A precinct consisted of a smaller collection of seven to eight housing blocks arrayed around a centre of playgrounds, fitness corners and multi-purpose courts.

Bishan was the first town to utilise this “checkerboard” approach when it began construction in 1983.

Rather than zoning vast residential areas separately from amenities, these low-rise non-residential amenities, such as schools and community buildings, are now interspersed between residential developments.

Singapore’s modern and earliest master plans

Dr Liu left public service in 1992, after leading a major 1991 revision of the concept plan. A “constellation plan” replaced the “ring plan” developed in 1971, creating four regional centres in Tampines, Seletar, Woodlands and Jurong East. Each was meant to act as a commercial centre outside the downtown core.

The 1991 concept plan also laid the groundwork for a connected network of parks across Singapore, as well as business parks like one-north near the National University of Singapore and Singapore Polytechnic.

Singapore’s earliest master plan predates them all. The Jackson Plan was commissioned by Sir Stamford Raffles for the settlement of Singapore and was published in 1822, taking its name from land surveyor and British Royal Navy lieutenant Philip Jackson.

This plan allocated specific areas to different ethnic groups and laid down the grid that still shapes the CBD today.