littleflute
commented
2 years ago Transcript
00:00 Transcriber: 00:03 A lot of people say, "Why didn't you continue 00:06 with your father's career as a painter?" 00:09 My answer to them is very simple: I’m also a painter. 00:13 The only difference is that my father's painting 00:16 is only a few square meters in size. 00:19 My painting is a few thousand kilometers in size. 00:24 That's the only difference. 00:26 Singapore, when the British left us, in 1960, 00:32 three out of four people lived in squatter areas. 00:37 You probably don't even know what is a squatter area, 00:40 but in those days, it was just all over town. 00:44 So the government of Singapore decided 00:50 that, if we want to have a sustainable city, 00:54 compatible with all the other, larger countries, 00:59 we must achieve excellence. 01:01 And one of the signs of removing backwardness 01:06 is to remove the squatters and house everybody in housing. 01:12 And to do so, since the people in those days were very poor, 01:17 we then introduced public housing, 01:19 to build subsidized housing -- 01:22 good-quality housing, but subsidized, 01:25 with affordable rental and affordable selling price. 01:28 That is a very important key to the transformation of Singapore. 01:34 So within 25 years, between 1960 and 1985, 01:40 we actually got rid of all the squatters. 01:43 We housed every Singaporean into public housing, 01:47 as well as, of course, private housing. 01:50 So that transformation is very thorough, very impressive. 01:56 That's a remarkable story of Singapore. 01:59 If you want to plan a city, the first thing is to ask: 02:02 "How many people are we planning for"? 02:05 In 1990, when we were planning the city, 02:07 I proposed a plan for 100 years, to 2091. 02:12 But nowadays, when I plan for other cities, 02:16 I suggest that we plan up to 2070, 02:20 because beyond that, really, 02:22 the whole world may have to control population growth, 02:25 so it's like planning for the ultimate population size, 02:29 because every city wants the city to be unique. 02:32 So, for Singapore and for cities I plan, 02:37 I look for the design gene of that locality, 02:42 to give it its unique character. 02:44 Now, what are the key design genes? 02:47 You see, different localities have different characteristics. 02:51 For example, they have different climates -- 02:54 climates also affect planning and design -- 02:58 and they also have different customs, 03:00 and that also affects what you put into the city plan or design. 03:06 And also, some kind of architectural heritage. 03:10 For example, in Southeast Asia, because of the strong sun, 03:15 we never have very strong colors. 03:19 If you look at Malay villages, the colors are kind of pastel. 03:25 Why? Because if you paint very strong colors 03:29 on Malay village buildings, 03:31 after a few years under the hot sun, 03:34 they all turn into pastel colors. 03:37 And the second is heritage. 03:39 As I mentioned earlier, every city has its own locality conditions. 03:45 So even though in Singapore we have shophouses, 03:49 our shophouse design 03:51 and the shophouse design in Malacca and Hong Kong, 03:55 they're different, because of local influence. 03:58 So we must protect our own heritage, 04:01 and they are very, very unique. 04:03 And the third thing, 04:04 which very few people talk about, 04:07 is density. 04:08 So as I mentioned earlier, 04:11 the large city, we must have a higher density, 04:14 and make the design more grand. 04:16 Small city, we have low density, 04:19 make the design more romantic. 04:21 So if we pick the right density for the cities of different sizes, 04:28 when you arrive at a city, 04:29 without even looking at the buildings, 04:31 you already know you're going into a different kind of city. 04:35 I told myself that despite the high-density building, 04:40 the high-density city that we plan, 04:42 we should not use high density as an excuse 04:46 for not creating a good environment. 04:50 So I told myself, 04:51 "How can I live with a high-density policy, 04:55 and yet create a nice urban environment?" 04:59 It dawned on me that you can have a high-density city 05:03 with a nice environment 05:05 by using the Western chessboard idea. 05:09 Because in the Western chessboard, 05:11 you have the black square and the white square alternating. 05:14 So if we put the [high-density] buildings in the black squares, 05:20 then [in] the white square we’d put the parks or schools 05:24 or low-rise shopping centers, and so on. 05:29 So in that case, 05:30 if you can disperse the high-density buildings 05:33 with a lower-density development, 05:35 you don't feel the oppressiveness of high density. 05:39 So in a new town, I plan it this way, 05:42 and later, when I planned Singapore, the whole city, 05:46 I also alternate it. 05:48 For example, 05:50 some of the historical area is naturally low-density, 05:54 and not far from a historic area, 05:57 like Shenton Way, 05:58 we allow high density. 06:00 But when you are in Shenton Way, it doesn’t feel oppressive, 06:04 because if you just turn your head around, 06:06 you see the sky. 06:07 And that's how Singapore was planned. 06:09 You don't actually go through miles and miles of high-rise buildings, 06:13 you go a few miles, one or two miles. 06:16 Then, you go to medium density, low density and higher density again. 06:21 So that creates a variety of environments, 06:24 and actually makes the city a better city. 06:28 I realized that we should not treat the city as one body. 06:33 We must treat a city as a family. 06:36 In a family, you have grandparents, 06:39 below that, you have several parents, 06:42 and below each parent, you have several children. 06:46 So in a city like Singapore, 06:49 I divided the city. 06:51 Below that, I divide it into regions. 06:53 Each region would have a population size of around a million people. 06:58 And below the region, I divide them into new towns. 07:01 Each new town will have a population size of around 150,000 to 200,000, 07:07 occasionally up to 300,000 people. 07:10 And below the new town, 07:11 we have neighborhoods; 07:12 below the neighborhoods, we have precincts. 07:15 That's how Singapore was planned. 07:17 You see, if you take a city like Singapore, 07:20 it would take, for example, 07:24 the highest level of commercial center is CBD, 07:32 in the central part of Singapore. 07:34 But in the region, I have regional centers. 07:38 It's one rank below the CBD. 07:41 And below the region, I have town centers, 07:44 in new towns. 07:46 It's one rank below the regional center. 07:48 and below the town centers are neighborhood centers. 07:52 So if I live in a neighborhood, 07:55 I want to buy a piece of soap, 07:57 I don't have to go to CBD, 07:59 I just walk to the neighborhood center. 08:01 I can get it. 08:02 But if I want to have, 08:06 maybe, a special dress, 08:10 I may have to go to a town center and get it. 08:13 So we actually cascade them in ranking. 08:17 And in a similar way, 08:20 in a city, I would plan for hospitals in different regions. 08:27 Universities in different regions. 08:29 But below that, in new towns, 08:31 I would plan for a polytechnic. 08:33 Below that, in neighborhoods, 08:35 I'd plan for high schools, primary schools. 08:37 So we cascade the functions, facilities and amenities 08:42 according to different family members. 08:46 In other words, if you are a grandfather, 08:50 you are very mature, you take care of the big issues. 08:53 But when you are a father, 08:56 you are still mature, 08:57 but you cannot take care of as many things as your grandfather. 09:01 But if you are a son, 09:03 you're not independent, you depend on your father and grandfather. 09:07 You can take care of only certain limited things. 09:11 So it's like, that's how a city should function. 09:15 If we don't subdivide the city in this kind of manner, 09:22 and we treat the city as one city, 09:26 the problem is that it's like putting the weight 09:30 of five or six people onto one person. 09:35 Now, what kind of person is he? 09:37 He cannot function, he can't move, you know? 09:41 That's what I mean, by traffic jams. 09:43 I'm quite worried about the fact that in today's world, 09:49 when things are changing very fast, 09:51 people say, "Well, we should not plan a city long-term, 09:55 because things are changing very fast. 09:58 What you plan today may be different tomorrow. 10:00 Just plan short-term." 10:03 I totally cannot accept that, 10:06 because a city is made up of concrete and steel. 10:12 It's long-term. 10:14 You cannot say, "Oh, I built a 50-story building today, 10:18 and I accept that five years later, 10:20 I'll pull it down for changed circumstances." 10:23 It's not possible. 10:25 But on the other hand, 10:26 you can ask, "How can we be sure 10:30 that whatever we build will last a long time?" 10:33 My answer is that if you spend time 10:36 studying the basic human needs of a city 10:41 and also understanding the basic need of the land for the city, 10:46 if you spend time studying that 10:48 and find out the answer and plan accordingly, 10:53 then the city should be able to last for a long time. 10:57 I just feel that there's too much noise, nowadays, 11:03 to say that the world is changing so fast, 11:06 and therefore, we have to go with the change. 11:11 And also, this belief that the more sexy-looking the city, 11:18 if the plan has a crazy-looking road layout, 11:23 crazy-looking buildings, 11:25 that would actually become creative. 11:29 I don't go for that, 11:30 because if you live in a city, 11:33 what you want is calmness, legibility, 11:39 a sense of community, predictability. 11:45 And we should never turn a city into a theme park. 11:50 In other words, 11:51 despite the fact that we must be very disciplined, 11:54 and create calmness, tranquility and so on, 11:57 we still have to create a city that is enjoyable to live in, 12:01 so it's fun. 12:03 Now once you know what creates fun for the people, 12:07 then you identify the functions to serve the fun. 12:11 “Fun” would include education, cultural activities and so on. 12:17 So then, you identify the functions, 12:19 and once you identify the functions, 12:21 then you create a city form 12:24 to satisfy the function. 12:26 Form follows function follows fun is the guideline for me in city planning. 12:32 And we must give them housing, 12:35 we must give them commercial centers 12:38 so that they create jobs. 12:39 We must give them industry, and also schools, hospitals 12:45 and even police stations and fire stations 12:49 and sports complexes. 12:51 Because we want the city people to be able to lead a healthy life. 12:57 And also parks. 13:00 So even a small, simple thing like parks: 13:03 we have parks at the city level; 13:06 in the region, we have regional parks; 13:08 new towns, we have town parks; 13:10 neighborhoods have neighborhood parks; 13:13 and in precincts, we have precinct parks. 13:16 And the location and size of each type of park 13:21 was also studied and kind of calibrated. 13:26 And that's how Singapore is seen as a garden city, 13:30 something to do with that. 13:31 All these things were identified as basic human needs 13:35 and incorporated in the plan. 13:39 To plan a city well, 13:41 I'd say you just have to remember three things. 13:44 To have a humanist's heart, 13:46 a scientist's head 13:48 and an artist's eyes. 13:51 "Humanist's heart" in the sense that you have to plan for people and land. 13:57 You have to create a plan 13:59 where people who live inside find the city liveable 14:03 and also the society resilient. 14:07 Land -- 14:08 you want to design a city where the land is highly functional 14:15 and also ecologically highly sustainable. 14:19 Now the scientist's head is that, 14:22 to my mind, a city is like a machine 14:26 for living. 14:28 Now to design a machine, 14:30 you must know all the machine parts, 14:32 the sizes of each part, 14:34 the number of the parts that you put together, 14:38 and put them at the right places. 14:40 So it is a very precise science. 14:43 It's not something you would just draw according to your fancy. 14:48 But to put this machine onto the land, 14:52 we have to massage the machine 14:55 so that when the machine is put on the land, 14:58 it would compliment nicely with the land 15:01 and would not destroy the land. 15:04 And to help you understand that, 15:06 you need to have an artist's eyes 15:09 to romance with the land. 15:12 That's [what] I always keep in my mind when I plan a city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnZjtR9z1qA https://www.yout.com/watch?v=xnZjtR9z1qA