(Tour A) The CITY PLANNING Journey

An insight into Singapore's latest city developments

Singapore City Gallery

See the whole of Singapore from right under your nose! Drop by the Singapore City Gallery and get an amazing bird’s eye view of Singapore through its detailed models. Spread over two levels, Singapore City Gallery is the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) version of a city exhibition that captures our planning efforts in a nutshell. With more than 30 hands-on interactive exhibits, participants to the Singapore City Gallery can look forward to an enjoyable discovery of Singapore’s planning journey.

Marina Bay - Garden City by the Bay

Marina Bay is the future heart of Singapore’s City Centre. As the Development Agency for Marina Bay, URA is responsible for spearheading future development efforts at Marina Bay. With 360 hectares of prime land for development extending seamlessly from the existing Central Business District, Marina Bay is the centerpiece of Singapore’s urban transformation that will support its continuing growth as a major business and financial hub in Asia.

Participants can look forward to seeing a stunning bird’s eye view of Marina Bay, by taking a ride on the 165m-high Singapore Flyer, the world’s largest observation wheel. Participants will also be led on a walking tour of newly completed projects at Marina Bay such as the ArtPark, Double Helix Bridge and Waterfront Promenade.

(Tour B) The CITY PLANNING Journey

An insight into Singapore's latest city developments

Singapore City Gallery

See the whole of Singapore from right under your nose! Drop by the Singapore City Gallery and get an amazing bird’s eye view of Singapore through its detailed models. Spread over two levels, Singapore City Gallery is the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) version of a city exhibition that captures our planning efforts in a nutshell. With more than 30 hands-on interactive exhibits, participants to the Singapore City Gallery can look forward to an enjoyable discovery of Singapore’s planning journey.

South Ridges

The Southern Ridges comprise a nine-kilometre chain of green, open spaces spanning the rolling hills of Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park and Kent Ridge Park before ending at West Coast Park. The completion of the two pedestrian bridges by the URA – Henderson Waves and Alexandra Arch - brings to reality URA’s Masterplan to seamlessly connect all the hill parks and transform the Southern Ridges into a new recreational playground amidst nature.

The tour will begin at the stunning Henderson Waves, which is also Singapore’s highest pedestrian bridge. It spans Henderson Road to connect Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park. Participants will then take a walk on the Forest Walk, which is made up of an elevated walkway for pedestrians and earth trails for cyclists through the secondary forest of Telok Blangah Hill Park. The Forest Walk connects with a second pedestrian bridge - Alexandra Arch - which spans across Alexandra Road. Rounding off the tour is HortPark, a one-stop gardening hub that brings together gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities under one big canopy in a park setting.

The BUILT ENVIRONMENT Journey

A tour of Singapore's Key Achievements in Universal Design

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) champions the development of an excellent built environment in Singapore. The four key pillars of an excellent built environment, namely, safety, quality, sustainability and friendly, are highlighted collectively in the BCA Gallery. Participants can look forward to an interactive journey through the various stages of the development of Singapore's Build Environment.

The Zero Energy Building (ZEB), which is the first zero energy building retrofitted from an existing building in South-east Asia, exemplifies BCA's commitment towards R&D in the areas of "sustainability". The experimental office at ZEB is a model of a new generation energy efficient office.

The Sensory Garden and IKEA Tampines are in-line with BCA's push towards a friendly built environment. The Sensory Garden demonstrates how universal design features could enrich everyone's experience in a garden regardless of the level of disabilities. IKEA Tampines, which stands out with good design and provision of unique and thoughtful facilities, is one of the Gold winners of the BCA Universal Design Award. The award aims to encourage the creation of an environment that addresses the needs of all age groups and people with different abilities.

The PUBLIC HOUSING Journey

Bringing you through the past, present and future of Singapore's public housing

The Housing & Development Board is the public housing authority in Singapore. It has been instrumental in transforming the landscape of Singapore from slums into a world class city in less than 5 decades. Participants will visit HDB's pioneer estates to see how HDB, through its town planning efforts and estate renewal strategies, has successfully transformed ageing public housing estates into vibrant and rejuvenated living environments.

Toa Payoh and HDB Gallery

Toa Payoh, an aged town built in the 1960s, was transformed into a vibrant place with many facilities such as town parks, commercial and communal facilities, enabling residents to live an enriching and convenient lifestyle. Participants will experience the transformed town via a bus-tour.

Visit the newly revamped HDB Gallery, to be launched in April 2010, to learn about the Singapore public housing journey from slums to vibrant towns through multi-sensory self-exploratory exhibits. Participants can immerse themselves in the lifestyles of HDB residents through a 360-degree panoramic theatre experience and uncover exciting plans for quality homes of the future viz. sustainable housing, new housing norms and community building.

The Pinnacle @ Duxton

This special one-off housing project is located at historically significant Duxton Plain, where the first two HDB blocks in the area were built. The result of an international design competition, The Pinnacle@Duxton, is HDB's first 50 -storey development with unique features that promotes social integration using sky bridges, providing a host of commercial and social facilities, a heritage garden and an integrated carpark. Participants will learn the processes involved in making this project possible, and experience the excitement of this new icon in the heart of town.

The PUBLIC HOUSING Journey

Bringing you through the past, present and future of Singapore's public housing

The Housing & Development Board is the public housing authority in Singapore. It has been instrumental in transforming the landscape of Singapore from slums into a world class city in less than 5 decades. This learning journey offers participants the opportunity to understand how HDB, through its planning of new towns, creates environmentally friendly and sustainable homes for Singaporeans.

Experience first-hand the life of HDB residents and their living environment with a walk through the community mall that of an HDB housing precinct that links residences to social and recreational facilities, inter-precinct open spaces, commercial plaza, providing a barrier-free connectivity throughout the development. Visit a family living in Tivela precinct to savour the flavour of heartland living.

The WASTE & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Journey

A Tour to Singapore's Ecological Offshore Landfill

Semakau Landfill showcases Singapore National Environment Agency's (NEA) success in managing an effective landfill while retaining Singapore's natural heritage. The Semakau Landfill, which is an offshore landfill created from sea space, highlights Singapore's efforts in solid waste management and environmental preservation. Despite receiving 2,000 tonnes -of incineration ash and non-incinerable waste per day, Semakau Landfill is still a major sanctuary of many marine ecosystems, co-existing with mangrove, grassland and shoreline habitats. It is open to the public for recreational activities such as sport fishing, bird watching, stargazing and inter-tidal walks.

Participants will learn about solid waste management in Singapore and the operation of Semakau Landfill. This will be followed by a bus tour of Semakau Landfill to view its operation as well as the scenic and idyllic surroundings.

The URBAN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION Journey

Conservation in Singapore

Pulau Ubin, or Granite Island, is situated off the northeastern corner of Singapore. The island provides a much-needed escapade from the hustle and bustle of city life in Singapore. Its natural and rustic charm draws about 300,000 visitors each year. The idyllic setting is ideal for outdoor activities like nature appreciation, cycling, hiking, camping and fishing.

Chek Jawa Wetlands is located at the eastern end of Pulau Ubin. Covering approximately 100 hectares in area, it comprises of several habitats - sandy beach, rocky beach, seagrass lagoon, coral rubble, mangroves and coastal forest. Slated for land reclamation since 1992, the immensely rich biodiversity of Chek Jawa was discovered only in December 2000. As public attention was drawn to its fate, thousands of Singaporeans flocked to visit this wetland treasure before it was destroyed. A flurry of appeals from nature lovers and the general public led Government to review its reclamation plans. The views of scientific experts were sought and various alternatives and the trade-offs required were carefully considered. In Jan 2002, the Government announced that the land reclamation works would not proceed for as long as the land is not required for development. Ironically, with the landmark decision to safeguard Chek Jawa, throngs of visitors flocked there to enjoy her natural heritage. Trampling across the wetland, they were unaware of the damage inflicted and Chek Jawa was literally being "loved to death". The National Parks Board (NParks) was hence tasked to set up a system to manage the large number of visitors and to facilitate guided tours so that the negative impact on the habitats and marine life would be minimized. In July 2007, new amenities including a visitor centre, boardwalks, shelters and a viewing tower, were launched to facilitate nature appreciation and interpretation. The boardwalks enable about 50,000 visitors a year to enjoy Chek Jawa, while minimizing impact on the fragile ecology and biodiversity.

On a few days each month, the tides are low enough for guided tours on the sand flats of Chek Jawa. You will be able to see the amazing marine life up close. Don't miss this rare opportunity to savour the beauty of Chek Jawa yourselves. You will need to rise early as time and tide waits for no man!

The MARINE AQUACULTURE Journey

Understanding Singapore's research and development in tropical marine aquaculture

The MAC is a strategic initiative by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) to help meet the fish supply needs of Singapore in a more sustainable way, while also assuring product quality and safety.

With depleting fish stocks in the sea, global fisheries are entering a crisis. MAC, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, plays a strategic role in spearheading appropriate tropical aquaculture technology development as a move towards a sustainable fish supply. Located on St John's Island in the open southern waters of Singapore, it develops and harnesses technology to facilitate the development and expansion of large-scale hatchery and fish farming production in Singapore and the region. Its programmes covers fish reproduction, large-scale hatchery operations and fish farming technology development, and other related areas such as fish nutrition and feeding, fish health and the establishment of good aquaculture practices.

The focus of MAC is on tropical food fish species, such as seabass and cobia. Some of MAC's achievements include the development of an inert fish larval feed, closing the culture cycle for cobia and co-development of two tropical fish vaccines.