Guest Post by Pauline Oh, Senior Vice President, ULI Asia

In March 2014, ULI Singapore and the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) conducted a collaborative research study with renowned Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl. The purpose of this study is to formulate principles for improving walkability and bikeablity in Singapore, a high density city in the tropics. The project aims to complement the National Cycling Plan by generating “way forward” recommendations to help contribute towards promoting cycling in the city. The research is funded by an ULI Innovation Grant, as part of the Building Healthy Places Initiative.

Press Release:
ULI, Centre for Liveable Cities to Renew Commitment to Work Together to Create Better Communities

Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in Singapore, though only 1% of peak hour trips are made on bicycles in the city state presently. For 100,000 people, 4 km of cycling tracks are provided. The chosen study location is the Ang Mo Kio new town, a typical residential town in Singapore with a population of 220,000. Aside from the recreational ‘Park Connecter Network’ cycle tracks, there are no dedicated cycle tracks and routes.

Jan Gehl leads the “Bikeshop” study in the Ang Mo Kio new town.

The research process involved engaging the community through two workshops. At the “Prepshop”, we gathered 49 participants from the private sector, government, and civic groups to discuss perceptions, issues, and ideas on active mobility in Singapore and identify potential improvements. Jan Gehl led the subsequent “Bikeshop” cycling site study with 55 participants, to observe and discuss challenges and strategies for bicycling on site at Ang Mo Kio Town, Singapore.

The workshops garnered active participation from ULI members and facilitated an exchange of ideas and spirit of collaboration between the public agencies, business communities, user groups, cycling advocates and academics. Lessons and strategies distilled from the research process aim to be applicable to Singapore and other high density tropical cities. The workshop findings will be presented at the World Cities Summit 2014 and the 2014 ULI Fall Meeting. A joint ULI-CLC publication, Creating Healthy Places through Active Mobility, with recommendations for the Singapore context is available in e-book form here. The final report will be released in September 2014.

Press Release:
ULI and Centre for Liveable Cities Recommend Strategies for Improving Walkability, Bikeability in Singapore

Access E-book: 
Creating Healthy Places through Active Mobility 

View a short summary video on these workshops:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty1s0CgUdIw

View a video on the findings of the study:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8bjz2Hio6E