Shaping the future The creative use of land in Singapore sparks URA scholar Benjamin Ng’s interest in urban development By Lynn Seah HDB blocks more than 50 stories high. Gardens in the sky. These were some of the “crazy” suggestions Mr Benjamin Ng and his friends came up with in class years ago when asked to get creative to solve Singapore’s land-use problems. When the plan for HDB’s The Pinnacle @ Duxton was unveiled to the public, to Mr Ng’s surprise, it had features similar to some of their ideas. “And they were actually going to be implemented! That was when it dawned upon me that, in Singapore, we are very creative in how we use our land,” he says. Thus began his interest in urban planning, which would lead to him working for the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) today. During his national service (NS), while flipping through the newspapers, he came across an article on URA’s Identity Plan, which earmarked 15 heritage areas for study and sensitive development. These included districts such as Balestier, Jalan Besar, Joo Chiat, and Jalan Anak Bukit, which was near where he lived. “They were places with old shophouses and trades that people were nostalgic about. It made me aware of how much value these areas have in terms of our shared heritage. It was very heartening to see that they were also important from a government perspective,” says the 26-year-old. He also found out that URA was the government organisation in charge of such issues and applied for the URA overseas undergraduate scholarship. After completing NS, he went to the University of California, Berkeley on the scholarship and graduated in 2006 with degrees in urban studies and economics. On his return to Singapore, he was posted to the URA’s Marina Bay Development Agency, which is responsible for marketing the Marina Bay downtown area to investors, and for encouraging events and activities to be held there to liven up the district. His work runs the gamut from attending trade shows to promoting the area to sponsorships of events, such as last year’s Oakley City Duathlon and Great Eastern Women 10K. Part of his work also involves assessing how the community is taking to this new district, by tracking the number of visitors to the area. He also played a part in last year’s National Day Parade, which was held on a floating platform in Marina Bay. Because there is a great deal of work currently going on in Marina Bay by different agencies, the URA has to play a coordinating role for everything happening there, including the parade. The year that he has spent on Marina Bay project has broadened his perspective of the work at URA. “I can see the events at Marina Bay in the longer term, as part of the greater vision for how we want the public spaces in Marina Bay to be ... it has let me see the value of the work that I do,” he says. Looking back, he is glad he made the decision to apply for the URA scholarship. “It has brought me here today to be able to contribute to things that I hold dear to my heart,” he says.