SINGAPORE – In the early 1900s, an electric tram line ran along Geylang Road, the earliest trunk road linking the Singapore River area to the island’s north-east.
As communities moved eastward from the city centre in the 1920s and 1930s, they settled in areas near the road such as Katong and Joo Chiat.
Today, rows of conserved shophouses from the 1900s that line the road tell of the area’s urbanisation, while post-independence icons such as Darul Aman Mosque abutting Changi Road and the soon-to-be-renovated Tanjong Katong Complex reflect Singapore’s modernisation.
To recognise how Geylang and Changi roads, as well as their landmarks, encapsulate various eras of Singapore’s history, the roads will be part of a 5km “identity corridor” – a new initiative aimed at strengthening the identity of distinctive places and safeguarding Singapore’s heritage.
In an interview with The Straits Times earlier in May, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said a range of tools will be used to retain the character of these corridors, which house businesses where generations have made memories.
The tools include conservation, urban planning, design guidelines and adaptive reuse.
Mr Lee had said in April that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) was studying the use of such identity corridors to stitch together areas with rich heritage, memories and unique landscapes.
The URA said these corridors will follow well-established routes and historic trunk roads. It will use urban design and landscaping to strengthen the identity of these corridors, and improve access to them as well as nearby places of interest.
For instance, the URA is studying ways to improve transport infrastructure and promote walking and cycling along the Geylang-Changi corridor. It will also look to preserve the “low-rise, human-scale streetscape that has come to define the area”.
The corridors build on a previous initiative – the Identity Plan from the early 2000s – which identified nodes such as Changi Village, Morse Road (in Telok Blangah) and Jalan Besar as areas with a distinctive local character that ought to be retained.
Joo Chiat and Tanjong Katong – both part of the Geylang-Changi corridor – are among the 19 nodes identified.
Mr Lee said the identity corridors concept expands on the nodes, and recognises that retaining heritage in these areas may involve a wider corridor instead of just a particular place or node.
More details on identity corridors will be showcased in June when the URA exhibits Singapore’s long-term land use plans.
Architectural historian and conservator Yeo Kang Shua said the corridors will act as visual and physical signposts, and could have practical benefits for the older generations for whom decades-old buildings serve as landmarks to orientate themselves.
He hopes the corridors will remain a constant amid Singapore’s fast-changing landscape.
Conservation specialist consultancy Studio Lapis co-founder Ho Weng Hin said that besides greater scrutiny of how future developments may affect the character of these corridors, the authorities should look into the effects of gentrification, which may drive up rentals in these areas and result in traditional businesses shutting.
Attention should also be paid to surrounding pockets and communities, and retaining historic landscapes cannot just be “one or two streets deep” from the designated corridor, he added.
Dr Yeo said another potential corridor could be along Thomson and Sembawang roads, linking identity nodes such as Thomson Village and Springleaf.
Post-independence icons, such as Darul Aman Mosque (above), reflect Singapore’s modernisation. ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN
Mr Ho suggested that one could lie along Keppel, Telok Blangah and Pasir Panjang roads, linking areas with maritime history.
He added that higher-density areas, such as town centres in Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio – built in the early independence years – could also be safeguarded as neighbourhood corridors that have served everyday Singaporeans for decades.
These identity corridors are part of a heritage and identity structure plan that the authorities have developed as part of the long-term plan review.
The plan maps Singapore’s heritage assets such as national monuments, conserved buildings, historic sites and heartland heritage.
“The plan will guide our long-term efforts to protect, enhance and sensitively integrate built heritage into the urban environment,” said the URA.
Mr Lee said the next phase of conservation will focus on early and post-independence buildings. Singapore’s conserved buildings thus far largely comprise pre-independence colonial buildings.
Leading the charge are public buildings, the minister said, citing those that are already legally protected such as the old State Courts building and Jurong Town Hall.
“We want to have a continuity of conserved buildings through our independence story,” he said. “Conservation cannot be frozen in time when it comes to buildings.”
He noted, however, that the decision to conserve and reuse a building is not always a straightforward decision, pointing to how the recently gazetted Golden Mile Complex imposes building restrictions on owners where there was none before.
Mr Lee also said that while demolishing and building new buildings result in high carbon emissions, in the long term, it is possible that new buildings can operate at a much higher environmental standard than old, retrofitted ones.
“We have to think about that as well, it’s quite quantitative an assessment,” he said.
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