ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the planning and governance structures that have moulded Singapore’s development since its independence, the principles that have underpinned Singapore’s urban policy, planning institutions and processes. It examines changing global and local contexts that challenge Singapore’s planning and development paradigm and explores how the role of the state in Singapore’s urban development might adapt in response to these challenges. In 1959, when the People’s Action Party government achieved internal self-government from the British, land ownership in Singapore was fragmented and the city centre was overcrowded, insanitary and in desperate need of an infrastructural upgrade. As Singapore’s economic strategy leaned heavily on attracting foreign investment and multi-national companies, having modern, well-functioning infrastructure was critical to helping businesses to reduce the costs of operating within Singapore and to reach world markets. Singapore’s institutional planning framework provides powerful support for plan execution, which makes it particularly well-placed to operationalize experimental, participatory approaches that other cities have struggled with.
