Singapore MAPPING

By Andrea Boschetti, Federico Parolotto - 30 September 2014

This overview of Singapore is accompanied by the new version of the GIS maps, now being used for the third time, allowing better comparison of a given area’s geographical features, services distribution, public transport density and greenery with the way population is concentrated.
Singapore’s population distribution map clearly shows how the island city’s planning policies down the years have created a clear-cut distinction between residential districts and tourist and hotel areas.
The city’s inhabitants are clearly grouped into well-defined, high-density residential clusters.
While the contour map of the island shows very few elevation changes, the services distribution map - indicative of community and social activities - shows Singapore to be an essentially single-centre city. The Central Business District (CBD) is the most densely served area in the whole of Singapore. Not surprisingly, this is where most of the island’s spectacular recent development projects are located.
The public transport network is built around the underground railway grid. Of all the cities so far examined in our series, Singapore’s public transport is perhaps the most spectacular, again the result of a clearly defined planning policy to concentrate transport services in areas of highest demand, which, not surprisingly, overlaps with densely populated areas and districts concentrating tertiary activities. In fact the public transport network links all the residential clusters with the area of that part of the CBD with the highest concentration of public transport and service provision.
Finally, despite its impetuous development over the last 30 years, Singapore has succeeded in keeping large swathes of natural greenery, further proof that the government has effectively managed its land-use planning policy.
Of all the cities examined so far, Singapore is by far the most interesting example of how a fine balance can be...