Chinatown, Temples and City Planning

The MRT pops right up into the middle of Chinatown!

We bypass the shopping and head over to visit some temples: this beautiful Buddhist temple, incense burning at the entrance, and a Hindu temple. Since Alexis writes about both in her blog, http://www.alexishamburger.blogspot.sg/2012/06/temples.html I will go on.                    

As we continue wandering through Chinatown, we play around with the bronzes honoring or remembering life in the past that appear here and there in these little mini parks.

We then leave Chinatown and wander past some fancy hi-rises,

until we arrive at our next destination, the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) Center, an amazing interactive city planning department with a three-storey exhibit demonstrating and explaining how dynamic city planning is carried out in Singapore. Yawn, you might say but no, this museum was fascinating in the story that it tells about how Singapore, a small island city-nation is constantly planning, building, improving and transforming itself in very innovative and sustainable ways, questioning and balancing the needs of a city (transportation, commerce, energy, water supply, infrastructure) with the needs of its human inhabitants: recreation, nature, neighborhoods, and all the things we desire for good 'quality of life'.

They've planned tree-lined connections -foot trails and bike paths- for people to pleasantly access the many different parks and nature reserves. They save or recover built-up land by consolidating into one building several functions that go well together and previously had been housed in separate structures, such as combining a library, an indoor sport center and a small food court into one multi-level building and connecting it by overpass or underground tunnel to a school. As a result, there is more green-space today than 20 years ago.

A few days ago we visited a new state-of-the-art concert hall which at mid-day had no operas or symphonies performing but was in full use for its other functions: a lending library dedicated to fine arts and performing arts, classes and workshops for teens in dance and music, spas, restaurants and cafés. I thought it a bit odd that these other functions were housed in this elegant building, but now I understand the philosophy. Five million people live on a small island. Urban planers have to think out of the box.