The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the

Government of Singapore The government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore, Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to consist of the President of Singapore, President and the Executive. Executive authority of Singapore is vested in the Presi ...

Mission

The authority was established on 1 April 1974, and is of critical importance to the city-state.

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

is an extremely dense country where land usage is required to be efficient and maximized. The city state is trying to reduce land wastage in the face of land shortage in the area.

Responsibilities

Land use planning

URA's main responsibility is

land-use planning Land use planning or ''Land-use regulation'' is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. ...

. URA planners devise both long-term strategic plans, along with medium-term plans, which are reviewed every five to ten years. These plans designate the land use and

urban density Urban density is a concept used in urban planning, urban studies, and related fields to describe the intensity of people, jobs, housing units, total floor area of buildings, or some other measure of human occupation, activity, and development acro ...

for the entirety of Singapore. These designations are divided by URA into 55 planning areas.

Development control

It is the responsibility of URA to evaluate and grant planning approval for development projects from the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

and

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

s. In approving development applications, the URA states its goal is to foster orderly development conforming to the planning guidelines as stated in the statutory Master Plan and the existing control factors. URA tries to provide quality service when working in partnership with building industry professionals and the general public to foster development.

Urban design

URA is responsible for the

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, city, ...

of the city. For areas of special interest, such as the

Singapore River The Singapore River is a river that flows parallel to Alexandra Road and feeds into the Marina Reservoir in the southern part of Singapore. The immediate upper drainage basin, watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Plann ...

area, the

Orchard Road Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major -long road in the Central Area, Singapore, Central Area of Singapore. A famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area, with numerous internationally renowned de ...

shopping belt, and the Marina Bay, URA devises specific medium and short-term urban design and land use plans. It also works with other government agencies in enhancing the city's urban design.

Building conservation

Building conservation in Singapore is the responsibility of URA, which issued a Conservation Master Plan in 1989. This plan laid down guidelines and processes for the conservation of culturally and historically significant buildings. More than 7,000 buildings in Singapore have been gazetted as conserved buildings.

Land sales

URA also sells land by tender on behalf of the Singapore government to meet demand from private developers. URA deals with tenders for government land and applications to buy reserved land.

Car park management

The URA plays an important role in managing all public car parks outside of Housing Development Board estates. It provides information and services to the public in regard to coupon parking, season parking, and heavy vehicle parking. URA also sets the

bylaw A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other ...

s to parking infringement and fines.

The URA Centre

In keeping with URA's function as the authority for urban design in Singapore, the URA Centre was conceptualised by URA's in-house architects. Kenzō Tange Associates and Kajima Design Asia Pte Ltd served as design consultants. The building consists of two blocks: a 16-floor tower block, and a 5-floor podium block.

The Singapore City Gallery

The URA maintains a regular and ever updated public urban planning exhibition on the first three floors of their headquarters. Highlights include three scale models of the island of Singapore, the central region, and the central area. Special exhibits and models on current projects and developments island-wide are regularly displayed as well. File:Central model.jpg, Model in the lobby of the URA building. File:SingaporeModel.jpg, Scale model of the island found in the Singapore City Gallery. File:URA_Gallery_Marina_Bay.jpg, The Singapore City Gallery Exhibit - URA is responsible for the urban planning of Singapore.

References

History of the Urban Redevelopment Authority

External links

* {{Authority control Statutory boards of the Singapore Government Urban planning in Singapore 1989 establishments in Singapore Government agencies established in 1989