Singapore River: Six Strategies for Sustainability

The water’s edge has always exerted a pull for mankind to sink roots there (Hoyle and Pinder 1992; Breen and Rigby 1994). Countless villages, towns and cities have arisen from such places of elemental intersection – be they on sea coasts, river confluences or around oases, where the easy availability of life-giving water was a prime consideration for setting up home. Soon, these settlements became focal points of not just the trade in goods and services, but also of ideas and information. Waterfront settlements have thus evolved to become the centres of social and intellectual life in their respective countries and cultures.

But these nurturing factors that help create such waterfront settlements are no guarantee for urban immortality, as is exemplified by numerous waterfront districts that have seen better days (Hoyle et al. 1988; Dovey 2005). Still, as has happened in waterfront cities such as Boston, Seattle and San Francisco in the United States 40 years ago, waves of renewal are possible, sparking intense redevelopment of run-down areas near the water margin. As a result, derelict waterfront areas have been transformed into vibrant commercial and recreational areas. Likewise, English and European cities have also witnessed similar revitalisation of their waterfront areas (Malone 1996; Marshall 2001). The British examples would include London’s South Bank and Bristol’s Harbourside.

With its seaport history, the fortunes of Singapore’s waterfront areas have mirrored this global trend. Tanjong Rhu, for instance, once a shipyard and graveyard of derelict schooners and junks, has been spruced up and redeveloped into a prime housing and recreation enclave smack between the city centre and the future Sports Hub, and with the entire East Coast Park as its recreational “hinterland”. In examining the topic of sustainable urban waterfront development, this chapter will focus, however, on the revitalisation of the Singapore River.