Singapore Shows How to Wake up ‘Sleeping Beauties’

By Tang Xiaoyong



Singapore Shows How to Wake up ‘Sleeping Beauties’

By Tang Xiaoyong

The clever design of various hardware and software， operation management and services in Jurong Town has been able to turn the physical space into a platform where people are linked together and interact，thus creating a sense of belonging. The communities reach a virtuous cycle of operation， the new town can retain and attract more people.

On December 20， 2015， the Central Urban Work Conference was held in Beijing. It was the highest-level urban work conference held since 1978， indicating China's urban development has entered a new stage.

Since the 1980s， China has undergone the largest and fastest urbanization process in world history. The resident population urbanization level increased from less than 18 percent in 1978 to about 55 percent in 2014； this represented an urban population growing from 170 million to 750 million； and the number of cities increased from 193 to 653. The urban population is increasing by 21 million every year on average， equivalent to the entire population of a middle-income country in Europe.

At the same time， China is also being plagued by various urban diseases inherent in this process， such as haze， traffic jams，difculties in disposing of garbage and the blind expansion of new urban districts.

According to an investigation made by the Reform and Development Center of Chinese Cities and Small Towns on planning and construction in 156 prefectural-level cities and 161 county-level cities throughout the country in 2013， over 90 percent planned or had actually already built new urban towns， with the new urban town 7.8 times greater than that of the old town in a city.

The blind expansion of cities has brought about tremendous risks in fund disbursement. Tere is a high inventory of empty dwelling houses in the new districts of many third- and fourth-tier cities， which might cause capital chain rupture of enterprises and even a local economic crisis. In fact， even in frst- and second-tier cities such as Beijing and Tianjin， some new urban town inventory of real estate has become a great headache to local governments.

The completed new urban town still fnds it hard to efectively attract businesses and residents. Tose living there continue to go to the old urban districts to work in the daytime and return to their houses to sleep at night， creating mere dormitories out of the new urban area. Lack of supporting facilities for daily life and a sound industrial structure is a bane for the longterm development of the urban town.

How to wake up these “sleeping beauties”？ Recently， the real estate consultancy frm DTZ/Cushman & Wakefeld proposed that China could learn something from the “Jurong model” of Singapore. This was contained in a systematic specialized analysis on China's new-type urbanization issued for the frst time by the consultancy.

According to the report， the root cause for the “sleeping towns” is that the urbanization of land is faster than local population growth. In some areas， this means the housing development is faster than the entry of potential residents，or property development is faster than supporting industrial/commercial introduction. All these phenomena are due to the neglect of the most critical element of urbanization - people.

Alva To Yu-Hung， Managing Director of the DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield Hong Kong and Director of the Strategic Development Consultant Department of DTZ/Cushman & Wakefeld Greater China Region， said： “A successful new town should have a complete industrial structure， a good living environment， sound support facilities， convenient traffic facilities and effective management. However，no one can completely copy the model，so a new town should find a professional planning team with a broad international perspective and profound project experience to control the operation in the initial construction phase.”

DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield held that the development of Jurong was a classic case of community building during the urbanization process of developed countries， and therefore offered a lot of“human-based” experience for reference. The “Jurong model” is characterized by independently operating but interrelated three major systems - government public administration， community service by grass-roots organizations and public opinion collection， which form a sound management and service network in the course of providing management and services. Through in-depth cooperation with the government and industry giants in terms of resources， Jurong smoothly attracted leading enterprises of pillar industries and took them as the core to realize reasonable extension of the industrial chain with local support in both policy and funding.

The clever design of various hardware and software， operation management and services in Jurong Town has been able to turn the physical space into a platform where people are linked together and interact， thus creating a sense of belonging. The communities reach a virtuous cycle of operation， the new town can retain and attract more people.

These experiences have a strong reference value for the development of new cities and districts in China. For example， Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province in central China， with a population of over 10 million. Tus， development of new towns in the city is both a practical and urgent necessity. However， the mere building of houses does not bring about the natural development of a city.

In 2009， the Henan University of Economics and Law took a block of about 11，000 commercial apartments as a sample to measure the vacancy rate by checking the consumption of water， electricity and gas and counting the “no-lighting rate”. The result showed that the vacancy rate of commercial apartments in Zhengzhou surpassed 55 percent， up to the grade of“serious backlog”.

Zhengdong New District in Zhengzhou， the capital of Henan Province.

To solve this problem， the government of the Zhengdong New District came up with many ideas. The government invested heavily to improve the infrastructure. Various utility pipes and lines were installed along with the building of roads，a number of substations， bus stations，garbage handling depots and other urban public facilities were built， and educational and medical facilities were also set up， thus meeting the demands of the district's future development and residents' life.

With the gradual improvement of urban functions， projects related to finance，insurance， exhibitions and conferences，logistics and cultural and commercial services were launched in the Zhengdong New District successively， and the urban industry showed a diversifed development trend. Afer years of exploration， a modern service industry system dominated by the fnancial industry， supported by high-end business and trade and supplemented by a headquarters economy， technological research and development and a conference and exhibition industry has been formed. Over 140 financial institutions， 42 enterprises among the world top 500 and 52 enterprises among the domestic top 500， along with 14 hotels at or above four-star level are now established in the district. Tere are some 200 roads， 40-plus bus routes， 147 medical and health institutions and 72 State-run primary and middle schools and kindergartens with over 40，000 students.

Wei Zhigang， head of the Financial Services Bureau of the Zhengdong New District， explained： “Te fnancial industry in the Zhengdong New District was not formed artifcially. Tere are many reasons. First， the development of the new district is in line with the national strategy and urban planning； second， it has location advantage，separated by only one road from the old urban district. Moreover， there is a highspeed rail station in the district. Tird， the economic strength of Henan Province is strong， and the Central Plains Economic Zone is a broad development area”.

According to the DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield， the Zhengdong New District's development from a “sleeping town” to a dynamic community has many similarities with Jurong worthy of further exploration. Edward Cheung， Managing Director of the Property and Facilities Department of DTZ/Cushman & Wakefeld Greater China Region， said： “Due to different national conditions， the projects in China can't copy those in Singapore. Te essence of the‘Jurong model' lies in that the clever design of various hardware and software， operations management and services turn the physical space into a platform where people are linked together and interact， thus having a sense of belonging. Only in this way can urbanization embark on a track of rapid development.”