floors underneath our feet are crumbling

Friday, March 19, 2010

As time passes, it is inevitable for change to not take place.

As other countries progress, Singapore must also progress.
In a way, change is good as it may help the country to develop more new ideas, have higher technology and have new ways to make the lives of the people better.
For example, because of change which is why there would be so muany high rise buildings in Singapore, the purpose is which to let everyone have a place to live in, and also minimise the amount of land use.

Therefore, only when there's change can Singapore improve.

@ 1:38 AM

Method 4 - Minimising the use of land

Singapore only has an area of just 680 sq km.
The government has to make sure there is sufficient land set side for industries, infrastructure, water catchment and military needs.
There must also be room for 800,000 more homes, to add to the current 1 million.
At the same time, offer Singaporeans quality living: by carving out more parks and greenery to soften the city's hard edges, by preserving quaint neighbourhoods like Joo Chiat and Anak Bukit to give the city character and keep its heritage, and by offering exciting new lifestyles.
Therefore, the government built high rise buildings so that it can hold many people yet take up less space.
For example, a very common sight in Singapore, the HDB flats.
Its does not take up much land as it had many floors building high up, which is the reason why there are many people living in HDB flats.
This helps to reduce the use of land which in turn can give Singapore more land to use, and also give the people places to live without using much land.

Advantage : Lesser land will be used, and there will also be more places for people to live in Singapore due to the high rise buildings.

Disadvantage: There would still be a need to create more and more buildings for more people to live in.

@ 12:55 AM

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Reflection- Huiwen

I think maximising existing landuse area is a good method as it isn't costly and the government doesn't have to use extra money to buy land. They just have to pay money for people to build the buildings. In this way, people will be more convenience for a variety of activies in a building such as condo. They can build facilities such as a restaurant, a swimming pool, gym, basketball court and etc in a condo. This will save people from the transporting time, thus not wasting any time.

@ 7:11 AM

Method 3: Maximising existing land use in urban area

Not only reclaiming more land, countries are also trying to make full use of the existing land.
As the improvement of our technology, the land that are previously not suitable for Man to live in, are now suitable for us to live in.
Hence, landuse can be maximized as land that could not be in usage previously can now be used to build houses or for agricultural purposes.
Population density is often very high in urban areas.
Hence, there is great competition for land.
Let us look at two ways in which land is maximised in these areas.
Mixed landuse is usually a result planning.
Landuse planning is a process by which different areas on a different piece of land are assigned for a different landuse.
Cities were planned based on zones.
Each and everyone of these zones has a specific function like, industrial, commercial, housing or leisure.
People have to travel for a long time in a long distance in order to get from one zone to another.
However, to allow for land to reach the requirements of more users, countries have started to use mixed landuse projects.
In a mixed landuse project, shopping malls, offices, houses and hotels are all built in one area.
Mixed landuse
The various landuses are very packed in a small area mostly linked by pedestrian walkways and escalators.
At present, mixed land use projects are being starting to be developed in small scale in london and singapore, but usually on areas of a few hectares.

Suntec City has the largest mixed landuse area where offices, shops and hotels are within walking distance of one another in Singapore.

Advantage of mixed landuse:
As many facilities are located near to each other, people can enjoy the convenience of having their homes, jobs and a wide range of services within the same area. In addition the many types of activities carried out within the area can meet the need of more uses and thus it can help to maximize the urban land use.

Disadvantage:
In many cities, the creation of mixed land use areas requires both construction and reconstruction of new and old buildings as well as transport networks. This can be very expensive.
Locating residential areas close to other functions such as industries and shopping areas may lead to traffic congestion as well as noise and air pollution due to the increasing amount of human and vehicle traffic.
Technological advances years after years. And it has enabled even taller buildings to be built in areas where land is scarce but in high demand.
These areas are told as high density areas as there are many people working and living together per unit area.
The Housing Development Board (HDB) in Singapore are actually planning to build flast which are 30 storeys high.
As to maximise the urban land use.
Many of the these flats will be located in the more established housing estates such as Bishan and Toa Payoh, or close to the city centre such as Tonjong Pagar.

Advantages:
More people can work or be housed on a small piece if land for other landuses, such as conservation as nature reserves or use as military training areas.
High density buildings helps to reduce the rate at which the country’s remaining green spaces are developed.

Disadvantage:
The large number of people in a small area may result in a more crowded environment , traffic congestion and higher noise levels. All these may lead to increased stress levels among people and reduce their quality of life.

Maximum urban land use is when the population of the people increases and the earth is not growing any bigger.
It also means that people in the urban settlement are not using the land on earth in a productive and effective way.
The important influences on climate are the emission of greenhouse gases and changes in land use, such as urbanization and agriculture.

The observation of cities around the world, comparing the rural and urban settlement has different results according to the population.

source:http://www.slideshare.net/mslim/7geog

@ 6:43 AM

Reflection- Kaely

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

In my opinion, although land reclamation is costly, Singapore is a wealthy country and is able to afford for such a necessity. With Singapore's population growth increasing, a larger space of land will be needed to prevent Singapore from being densely populated. Although there is the competing need to maintain the sealanes and provide new and larger ports for the bigger ships to anchor in Singapore's limited sea space, I think that Singapore can find other alternatives for shipping. For instance, Singapore could collaborate with Malaysia, which is located right next to Singapore, and transport goods from other countries via Malaysia.

@ 7:26 AM

Method 2: Land Reclamation

Large-scale land reclamation has been undertaken in different parts of Singapore since the 1960s. This is necessary because of the small size of the country (total area being about 581.5km square prior to 1960) as well as the rising demand for more land as the population increases. More land has been reclaimed for building more homes in private and public housing estates and recreational facilities for the growing population, and expanding commercial and industrial activities and transport needs, the latest of which include roads, expressways, the Mass Rapid Transit System, the port and airport facilities.

By 1990, the total land area of Singapore was 633km square. This was an increase of 51.5km square, which made up 8.9% the total land area. With continuing land reclamation, land area in Singapore will increase by about another 100km square by the year 2030. There are, however, constraints as to how much more land the country can reclaim.

However, land reclamation works in the past used to be carried out from depths of 5-10m. Today, reclamation works have to venture into deeper waters of 15m or so and this will incur much higher costs. It is also not so viable to pursue pushing reclamation further offshore because there is the competing need to maintain the sealanes and provide new and larger ports for the bigger ships to anchor in Singapore's limited sea space.

The landfill mothod is used to reclaim land from the coast and the swamps in Singapore. It is also used in reclamation works involving the merging of islands. One such project is the amalgamation of Pulau Sakra and Pulau Bakau into one big island called Pulau Sakara, which is ten times the size of the two former islands.

In the early years, the fill materials evacuated from the hills in Bedok, Siglap, Tampines and Jurong were used for filling the reclamation areas. In recent years, sea sand obtained from the seabed is the main source of fill materials for reclamation. The reclamation contractors import the sea sand from the neighbouring countries such as Indonesia.

@ 7:18 AM

Reflection- Peijun

Monday, March 15, 2010

All these years, Singapore has constantly been growing economically. With growth comes changes. Without changes, Singapore will never be able to have new ideas and products. These new ideas and products gives Singaporeans a fresh outlook and also to get away from the stressful lives Singaporeans lead. This can be done with more land. For instance, the government has an ongoing project about turning Punggol into a waterfront town. Over there, water recreational activities are available such as water skiing, skin diving and boating. All these would not have been possible without land. Therefore, land is very important in guiding Singapore through its growth.

As the world is constantly changing, Singapore has to change too. The above example might seems good for all of us, but money is also needed to build all the facilities and to buy the land. We get to enjoy all the facilities and recreational activities, but the government is the one forking out the money. They want us to enjoy and hence, they lose out. When something is being changed, a sum of money is needed and it is usually paid by the government.

Without all the land, Singaporeans will not be able to enjoy so many activities and they may lose out as compared to other country's citizens. Therefore, change is definitely essential as the world is also changing at the same time. We must be able to catch up with the change and not lag behind.

@ 12:54 AM