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The Senate Standing Committee on Religions, Morals, Ethics, Arts and Culture visited and studied about Architectural structure design with urban community way of life, city planning, social welfare and quality of life protection. The summary of the study visit is as follows:
1. Architectural structure design with urban community way of life
Architectural Buildings in Singapore are remarkable, ultramodern and related to city development. Due to the limitation on area of Singapore, the designers emphasized on a utilization of land effectively and maximally together with a creation of innovation and a development to conform an economic development guideline and to increase Singaporeans a better quality of life. The examples of the buildings are as follows:
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay is located in Civic District near Marina Bay. The structure of this building is a round shape with glasses, consisting of two main buildings which mean the openness as well as the used of 7,000 pieces of triangular glass to optimize solar shading and reduce the temperature in the building. The architectural design of this building creates such a unique and remarkable identity because it has a similar feature to durian fruit which is very popular fruit among Singaporeans. Therefore, Singaporeans call this theatres “The Durian”. These theatres are made to be a world-class performing arts centre including 2,000-seat theatre and 1,600-seat concert hall. Moreover, there is a small studio room located inside and outside the building. There are several of program shows that appropriate for all age and sex such as music show, dance, drama and visual art of all kinds, especially emphasized Asian culture.
Marina Bay Sands Project
Marina Bay Sands Project is a one-stop entertainment centre including 2,500-room hotel, Shopping malls, theatres, restaurants, casinos, night clubs, ArtScience Museum, activity space and among others. There is a group of high three-building in this project. The iconic feature is the architecture structure of this building which is inspired by lotus and Sands SkyPark that has a similar shape to a big boat sitting on the top of those three buildings.
Sand SkyPark area has been allocated for park, exercise area and swimming pool in part of hotel. The designer team has designed to expand an area for 65 meters in the North which is considered to be one of the longest expended in the sky building in the World. This part is designed to be a view point which can be seen Singapore and Marina Bay.
Garden by the Bay
Garden by the Bay project was designed under the concept of city in a garden including two glass domes which are Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. The Flower Dome was designed to show varieties of plants and flowering plants from every corner of the world while the Cloud Forest was designed to show tropical plants. Moreover, there are other kinds of gardening such as Horticulture Garden, Heritage Garden and among others.
2. Social welfare and quality of life protection
Singapore supports their own people to be self-sufficiency in which government emphasizes the social welfare. The government agencies that look after of this matter are Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sport (MCYS) and Central Provident Found Board (CPF), under the control of Ministry of Labour.
The government wants local people, meaning people who have a Singapore nationality and permanent residency (more than 3 years) in a labour market to have provident fund and get rid of burden on housing after a retirement as well as medical expenses to be used when people become older. In this matter, the government prescribes both employers and employees to deposit their social security money to provident found, accounted as 20 percent for employers and 10 percent for employees. Member of CPF can spend their saving money on projects related to medical treatment, housing owner, tuition fee for their children, asset addition and among others.
Caregiving to the elderly
Singapore has an increasing number of elderly people in every year. In 2030 approximately, 1 in 5 people will turn to more than 65 years of age. The government then prescribes policy for elderly people under a slogan “Successful Ageing for Singapore” which has following details:
- Support employment and financial security
- Holistic Health care and elderly care which emphasizes on an accessibility
to quality and economical healthcare and meet the need for each person.
- Help elderly people to spend a daily life in which facilitate them to get in to buildings and public places, mass transit systems as well as support elderly people to participate in activities in society.
- Support elderly people to have a long live, good health and mind and can live in society happily.
Financial support for child development
With a rapid increasing number of elderly people together with the low marriage and birth rate in Singapore, the government therefore is trying to support partnership and a growth of population by subsidizing a couple when they have a baby (Baby Bonus). The government will also lighten the financial burden of parent by giving a “Cash Gift” for 1st and 2nd child with 4,000 Dollars/child and 6,000 Dollars/child for 3rd and 4th child. Besides, if parents open a deposit account for “Children Development Account: CDA” to be used for a tuition fee for their children who were born after 17 August 2008, the government will give the same amount as parents do (Dollar For Dollar Matching). This money can also be used in other areas such as nursery centre, tuition fee for schools registered with Ministry of Education in Singapore and all kinds of medical expense for their children.
Marriage & Parenthood Package Policy
The government gives welfare on many aspects in order to encourage people
to get marriage and produce human resources for the country which can be divided into four categories as follows:
- Marriage such as dating service and increase the amount of loan to help couple to buy a house.
- Childbearing such as a subsidization for medical expenses to help couple who has infertility and a development of healthcare insurance system that covers all medical expenses before, during and after a childbirth.
- Parenting such as tax deduction for parents who have an income, provide “Baby Bonus” and subsidy to develop the quality of nursery centre and nursery schools.
- Promotion a balance of work and family life such as an allowance for mothers
to take maternity leave for 4 months and still receive a salary (companies pay for the first two months and the government pays for the last two months) and allowance for parents to take care of their child under 7 years for 6 days/year and still receive a salary.
3. City planning
“Urban Redevelopment Authority” or “URA” is the government agency that takes care of city planning. The conceptualization of city planning will conform to visions/government policies, appropriation of area conditions and period of time.
For example, at one point of time there was a use of “Garden City” concept. However, after 2001, there was an implementation of “Compact City” concept to support the heart of city to be a potential economic activity centre and create a high value. While the concept of current Master Plan 2008 is influenced by “New Urbanism” mixed together with “Smart Growth” concept which could meet the need of the quality of life development of Singaporean under a limitation of land. The main conceptions are as follows:
- The efficient and suitable utility of limited space for a growth in the future by developing underground spaces for the future use.
- The expansion of economic centre to Jurong and Paya Lebar area to create new economic areas outside a city, reduce the congestion of an old economic area and prepare for economic growth.
- The development of Public transportation by emphasizing on a development of rail system transportation along with a reduction of personal transportation and traffic.
- The enhancement of quality of life and pride of identity. The government organizes different varieties of recreational activities/areas for people to be easily access. Furthermore, the government emphasizes on a cultural heritage protection/natural heritage conservation which represent a national identity in order to make people proud and to have a sense of ownership together.
In terms of housing development, the government aims to make Singapore
the most stable country on housing in Asia. Therefore, the government has implemented an urban development criteria according to an intelligent growth concept as follows:
- The integration the use of land. The government supports the integration and the balance in using of land by determining the area in the heart of the city
to carry out activities that create economic opportunities as well as allocate areas for housing/common areas for the community utility.
- The design of buildings and building groups were grouped together and community design was designed under a concept of compact building design in order to reduce a distribution. The commercial areas and residential areas were grouped together for the most economical and maximize the use of land.
- The support of residential development for people of all income level.
For a group of low to mid income, the government allocates those into flats where it distributes around business centres whereas, for those who have high income live in business centre areas. Other than that, the government creates opportunities for private sectors to develop specific residential projects that meet the need for high income people. However, the residential allocation options must be taken into consideration of the quality of residence, utilities, environmental development and among others.
- The design of improving pedestrian network is designed to be connected with each other in the communities or between communities, business areas and residential areas as well as between group of building, free spaces and green areas in communities. The government also emphasizes on the standardized pedestrian construction and landscape development to attract people to use more pedestrian. In this regard, the government has issued a requirement that buildings built on the side of the roadway must arrange the front area as a pedestrian under the roof and must have a minimum width of 2.50 meters and as long as to an end of the building line.
- The promotion of a traveling by several transportation systems and easily access. The transportation systems link resident areas with economic areas or suburban zone with city centre in order to create choices for people to choose to travel such as mass rapid transit, buses and taxies.
Views and Suggestions from the Study Visit
Singapore emphasizes on the preservation of national cultural heritage, Natural preservation, cleanness and orderliness of urban communities, area allocation and the development of buildings for maximum benefits in terms of economy, tourism and quality coexistence of the people in society.
Thailand has a long national history and also has a valuable cultural heritage which could turn into a world-class leaning centre. The government therefore should study measures, patterns of cultural heritage management as well as a budget allocation on the preservation of cultural heritage and important religious sites together with a systematic cultural management. Moreover, the government should have plans to develop cities, support the quality of life and develop human resources to be able to compete with other countries.
Keywords Architecture in Singapore, Social Welfare, Development of Quality of life, City planning
Main Pillar Socio-Cultural
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