Mr Khaw told Parliament that the next generation of public housing would be even more comfortable and better designed, holding up Housing and Development Board precincts at Punggol South as an example. Newer neighbourhoods, such as Punggol, were planned as smaller estates, HDB said in response to queries. Each Punggol precinct is made up of between 1,000 and 3,000 homes.
There is also more intensive land use, it said, pointing to the gross plot ratio (GPR) of about 3-3.5 in Punggol.
This compares with earlier public housing developments in the 1970s and 1980s in older towns such as Ang Mo Kio, Bedok and Clementi, where GPR ranged from 1.8 to 2.8.
"In general, as gross plot ratio increases, the number of dwelling units within the same plot size of land increases. More families can then be housed in the development," HDB said.
To maintain liveability, planners had to exercise creativity.
For example, some carparks were integrated with housing blocks, covering the first few floors. To maintain a sense of space, HDB's planners executed ideas such as communal gardens on the rooftops of integrated carparks.
Each precinct at Punggol also shares a "common green" of about 0.4-0.7 of a hectare in size within walking distance from each block, compared with the 1-1.5 ha neighbourhood parks shared by 4,000 to 6,000 households in older estates serving a wider catchment.
"So what is our future? It is not to be a concrete jungle. It is to be a city in a garden, it is to be Punggol - multiply that many times. And the best is yet to be," Mr Khaw said yesterday.
Feedback about developments at Punggol South has been positive, Mr Khaw noted. He added that the same applies for preliminary plans for Punggol North. Planners are now working on Tampines North, Bidadari and Tengah.
"They will be awesome," Mr Khaw assured.
Source: Business Times –7 February 2013
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