Director Ed Baker, who led the design team from Broadway Malyan’s Singapore studio, said the project followed a compact city model with the creation of a series of connected neighbourhoods, underpinned by an aspiration to promote a move away from private car use.
“A key aspiration for this project was to move towards non-motorised forms of transport,” said Ed. “This is facilitated by shaded streets designed for pedestrians and cyclists and urban blocks in the city centre that have been designed and broken down in to a finer grain of pedestrian-only connectors that encourage ease of movement and permeability and encourage more street life and ground floor activities.
“The planning has placed a particular importance on the creation of a district-wide open space and place-making strategy, creating a connected network of unique and accessible public spaces that provides ecological and recreational value for the surrounding communities.
“This strategy includes the integration of the existing hydrology, topography and flora and fauna within the masterplan where possible with a key landscape feature being the river valley ‘Loop Park’ that runs through the centre of the scheme and connects the different neighbourhoods.”