High density living has its benefits, says expert

Singapore’s limited land mass means many people live in dense residential areas. (Bloomberg pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: A housing expert has extolled the benefits of living in dense residential areas that are well planned, saying they typically provide better access to conveniences than do sprawling suburbs.

Fong Chun Wah, a deputy CEO of Singapore’s Housing and Development Board, said people living in high density neighbourhoods would spend less energy travelling and could better ensure the safety of their school-going children.

Referring to the Singapore experience, he said children living in suburbs would usually need some form of transport to go to school, whereas those living in residential flats could just walk.

“Similarly, I can talk about other facilities like childcare centres and kindergartens,” he added. “You can drop your children off at these facilities before you go to work.”

Fong, who spoke here last week at a conference on sustainable cities, told FMT Singapore was forced to be innovative because of the limitations that came with being a small country with a large population.

“When you don’t have constraints, the tendency sometimes is that you are less conscious of the need to be very deliberate in the provision of facilities,” he said.

Fong Chun Wah.

He added that Singapore’s housing and town planners had to know the needs of the population to ensure the provision of appropriate infrastructure and facilities.

He acknowledged that people’s needs and demands would evolve over time and this meant that planners and developers would have to upgrade or revamp facilities.

Referring to the township of Toa Payoh, he said it had been refreshed many times. For example, he added, the town was now served by air-conditioned buses.

“We keep looking at the population shifts and people’s needs to keep refining the towns,” he said. - FMT