Mr Khaw Boon Wan had introduced the "Building a Happy Community" to build an integrated complex.In my perspective, such a development would only be significantly successful, if it happen on a scale of a whole GRC.
Sounds far fetch? that's the future.
A study should be done on the amount of manpower, resources and goods and services needed for residents of a GRC to go on with their daily life, then look onto whether would the concentration of all the services, significantly reduce the "manpower" needed to keep the whole GRC functioning. In the face where Singapore is facing manpower shortage, concentrating of manpower wouldn't create confusion with the help of technology.
Each of these GRCs would be one big hub, where residents travel conveniently by LRT underground to a few services, like on one station it would be Park, another to Hospitals and then to a more concentrated hub, e.g MRT and big shopping malls.
Most of the facilities could go underground, to make each of them bigger than ever, Shopping malls, Hospitals and even MRT lines.
*look at Jurong East, with Jcube, JEM and IMM all in a small area, how much manpower could be saved, if all these malls are concentrated, who need 3 macdonalds? 4 supermarkets? (one more sueprmarket beside Jcube) all in a 2km by 2km plot of land. where there could be a single big shopping mall, macdonald and Supermarket, reducing manpower demand, reducing demand for foreign labour?* the ground above could be spare to build new buildings, where working offices and houses are in a single building. bringing work (CBD) nearer to home.Say 10th floor to 25th floor is working offices.while 1st to 9th is housing.B1 could be lobby with different lift lobby like those seen in CBD area.B2 is carparks for residents while B3 is carparks for offices.
This in my perspective could be one possible solution to solving congestion of public transport, where we could reduce the time and distance that people have to travel.
I remembered Japan is working on such an idea where people work and live in the same building many years ago.
In my view this idea is crazy, simply because it is too difficult of a task.
Yet I believe that's what it takes for a nation like Singapore to punch above its weight. (constraints)
If Singapore could go through the obstacles of1) being accused by Malaysia that PAP had mistreat the Malays from Singapore by relocating them from kampongs for redevelopment2) and the resentment of Singaporeans of having to relocate from Kampongs. to better acheieve the productivity from each plot of land.
That's what Singapore had to go through again in 2013, and be completed by 2030.
Looking into history, especially China's on how nations/dynasties had fallen and new nations/dynasties emerged. yet the people had survived and continue to strive along with the changing tides, have make me understood that it is not a country or its people that does not survive but the government structure and its system.
Look, Russia had survived the Cold War, it is Soviet Union that had not.
China had survived through out the 5,000 years of civilisations, the dynasties had not.
In my perspective, the rulers throughout the centuries does not survive because they failed to change correctly along with time.- some may felt that changes are unnecessary
- some find the implications and consequences of changing too much to bear- while some find the courage to change but that changes came too late.
However changing isn't as hard as the rulers think, for after they have fallen, new rules and system emerge as quickly as they had befallen.
It is not the falling of a nation that we should be worried about but the reluctance of the people from the top to bottom to start changing, the key to the survival of Singapore I believe is for each PM to behave and think like Singapore is a new nation.
FYI,
(QianLong Emperor of Qing dynasty felt China is self sufficient and does not need to open up trade with the westerners, such inability to change would haunt the Empire during the first and second opium war.)(GuangXu Emperor of Qing Dynasty initiated a "Hundred Days' Reform" but failed due to rampant corruption, opposition and reluctance of the people to cooperate, from the top to bottom.)
Tan Ping Hau
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/notes/ping-hau-tan/develop-like-a-new-nation/150297608506961