City built for people not cars

In order to make Singapore a more livable place, the city of Singapore should be a city built for people instead of cars. This means that Singapore should be designed around the dimensions, movements and needs of the human body as opposed to those of the car which requires much more space and fuel. Cars also require more infrastructure such as roads and cables which contributes to the uncontrolled expansion of urban areas. Thus it will be unwise to cater to the needs of a car instead of human beings (Tulloch, 2011). Singapore should be focused on catering to the needs of the people by planning its city in such a way that benefits its inhabitants the most. This can be done through the building of more pathways for pedestrians to encourage walkability, parks to increase greenery in the city area so people will be attracted to walk and cycle in such environments. This will also mix nature into the urban landscape of Singapore and thus there will be a good balance between urbanization and nature.

Singapore has a congestion problem of cars on highways during peak hours. This results in traffic jams and congestion which has a negative impact on the environment as cars Emmitt more unburnt carbon emissions which are harmful to the environment. This is an undesirable situation, however, the Singaporean government officials should not mitigate this problem by building more and more roads. Instead, public transport should be where investments are made so that people will not drive to work and instead, take public transport to work and reduce their reliance on their cars. This is currently being done by the government who is investing in train transportation and bus services. This way, there will be more interaction between people when they take mass transit and this will facilitate a better environment for Singaporeans. Thus the city will be more catered towards the people living in it as opposed to cars.  

Singapore should also pay close attention to the way the environment looks. To make it greener and more appealing to the public and encourage walkability, there should be more plants and trees planted in and around the city. Currently there are numerous parks in Singapore however some are unkempt and in poor condition. Thus there needs to be more grooming of the parks that we have. Also we need to plant more trees along the roads and in areas with dense buildings so as to make the environment look and feel nicer for people. This will increase the non-material standard of living among Singaporeans as they will be more relaxed when there is less man made obstructions in view such as cars. And they will enjoy the scenery more. City planning is key in this situation so as to ensure that there is a good balance between nature and man made structures such as buildings, roads, and cars. Nature and infrastructure should coexist in the same frame so that Singaporeans do not lose touch with the environment.


References

James Tulloch (10 June. 2011) The New Urbanism movement puts mobility of the human body at the heart of urban planning. (June, 2011)

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