Case Studies in Public Governance

Building Institutions in Singapore

June Gwee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415826181
• eBook ISBN: 9781136447075
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This book makes available original case studies on how institutions developed in Singapore. Up until now, these case studies have been used exclusively in Singapore to teach public governance, and have been well-received in the Singapore Civil Service College's milestone programmes. With this publication, more will be able to access this material. Students, researchers and policy-makers can now use these case studies for pedagogy or to derive insights on Singapore's approach on governance. Designed around the theme of "building institutions", the case studies also present facets of how institutions developed which are universal to management studies.

These case studies highlight a core aspect in the development of institutions, namely, how people and organisations change the culture of institutions, how leaders influence their organisations, and how policies define the systems that build institutions. The book contains 5 case studies, each profiling a unique sector and key institution in Singapore. They present how public agencies and leaders helped to build Singapore institutions over the last forty years.

Although there are more cases studies on management and strategy than public policy and administration, there is growing interest in Asian case studies, and more specifically, case studies on Singapore public governance. This collection of case studies on Singapore institutions provides the perspective from Singaporean case writers themselves, on the role of government in Singapore's development.

Part I Culture

Case study 1

Growing a city in a garden

Neo Boon Siong, June Gwee and Candy Mak

DOI: 10.4324/9780203124840-2

Editor’s overview

The greening of Singapore started with the rapid planting of trees for a sea of green to permeate the island city. Pragmatism gradually gave way to purposeful strategies – high visibility areas such as the airport and the expressway leading from the airport to the city were adorned with bougainvillea, adding colour to greenery. After almost five decades, the country has retained its Garden City reputation. Some have attributed the success of the Garden City policy to Singapore’s strong system of governance¹ and its principles of governance.² Many wonder about the mysterious interaction between political vision and policy implementation. At each phase of Singapore’s development, through planned and unplanned occurrences, its leaders and public officers were learning from one another the meaning of sustainable urban governance.

This case study describes the complexities of leading the development and management of Singapore’s Garden City policy, and ensuring its sustainability. It traces the development of Singapore’s greening efforts – the innovation of first-generation policymakers, as well as the new challenges faced by second-generation policymakers who inherit the Garden City policy. The authors started the case study to document the rationale of using prime land in the city to develop gardens. During research, they discovered a more complex story on urban governance which gave insights to the role of political leadership, public sector leadership and urban development policies, including the development of institutions. This led to the development of a case study that described the parallel developments of urban policy, leadership and institutions.

The case study was first taught by Professor Neo Boon Siong at the Dynamic Governance Workshop in the Singapore Civil Service College in January 2010 and at the Strategic Management Programme at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore in February 2010. The case study was also used in other programmes, including the Leaders in Urban Governance Programme organized by the Centre for Liveable Cities.

Urban governance

Singapore’s development as a Garden City and its subsequent re-invention into a City in a Garden was possible because of a strong political will, visionary leadership, clear policy direction, whole-of-government collaboration among multiple agencies, partnership with stakeholders, institutional capabilities and the passion of like-minded professionals – city planners, landscape architects, botanists and ecologists who developed and maintained the Garden City. The development of a global city in a tropical garden is strategic to Singapore’s urban transformation.

Urban governance achieved desired socio-economic development outcomes to meet the changing aspirations of its people by addressing policy choices and decisions regarding the allocation and management of a nation’s environment and resources in response to the opportunities and constraints in its national context. It was guided by a clear vision of the future while making dynamic trade-offs between competing demands for scarce land resources in a small city-state: between present and future needs, among economic, social, cultural and environmental requirements, and the alternative uses of available capital. Good ideas, sound principles and the development of institutional capacity and capabilities were crucial in managing resources that translate vision to policy, to results. Veteran architect-planner Liu Thai Ker outlined the sophistication and subtlety of urban policy thinking and governance in the Singapore context:

By and large, in Singapore, we measure:

• hard work, not by the amount of floor area indiscriminately built, but by the accurate diagnosis of the needs of the city and its citizens, as well as the legacy of a visionary, functional and workable Master Plan;
• progress, not by the number of hills cut and old city quarters levelled, but by the conservation of nature and heritage as well as the sensitive choice of new sites for development;
• development, not by the amount of land hurriedly disposed of, but by the careful management of the optimal use of land as a scarce and precious resource;
• improvement to transportation, not by the widths and lengths of roads, but by the effective substitution of cars with mass transit systems, and by maintaining reasonable average car cruising speeds in busy areas;
• beautification of cityscape, not by the height of buildings but by the visual coherence and uniqueness of the place, embellished by good architecture; and
• environment amelioration, not by counting the size of over-sized parks, but by attractive housing estates, and a clean and green environment.³

Today, policymakers continue to optimize resources to ensure that the multiple demands for space are met within physical limitations of a small city-state. Careful attention is given to long-term planning and detailed execution to ensure that the city’s ambitions for economic development, social and cultural activities, and environmental preservation are achieved to give citizens and residents a high quality of life in a safe and clean environment. Policy leaders continue to engage the community, industry and multiple government agencies, and to build sufficiently robust institutional capabilities to achieve sustainable progress.

Part I: Developing Gardens

Envisioning the garden city

In 1959, Singapore achieved self-governance. Amid the rapid industrialization during the 1960s, which saw concrete structures mushroom around the island at tremendous speed, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew mooted the idea of greening the city to ensure that Singapore had the best possible living environment in spite of industrialization and urbanization. He lamented that ‘only one tree was planted for every 10 felled for building sites’.⁴ He believed that planting more trees would encourage cloud formation and retain moisture so that the city could be a pleasant place to live in. Lee believed that making Singapore green would give visitors a good impression of the country, using the analogy that if a garden is well maintained and neatly landscaped, there must be a dedicated and efficient gardener. Hence, if the city is attractive and well kept, there must be a committed and efficient government.

After independence in 1965, Lee set out to differentiate Singapore from other Third World countries by turning it into a tropical garden city. He believed that the garden city development would be an important factor in persuading potential investors of the commitment, discipline and efficiency of the government. At the same time, Lee used greenery to improve the morale of people and make them proud of their environment.

One arm of my strategy was to make Singapore into an oasis in Southeast Asia, for if we had First World standards, then businessmen and tourists would make us a base for their business and tours of the region. The infrastructure was easier to improve than the rough and ready ways of the people.⁵

Lee provided the vision and leadership to ‘green’ Singapore and was personally involved in the process. In 1963, he planted the first tree as part of the greening strategy, and asked for 10,000 trees to be planted a year, including 5,000 trees along new roads, on traffic circuses, in housing estates, school grounds and car parks. Lee also urged households to plant trees in their compounds.⁶ To encourage public participation, the Botanic Gardens supplied 30 types of saplings priced between 50 cents to S$1.50 each and produced an illustrated Guide to Tree Planting in October that same year.⁷ The public was advised to carry out planting in the October/November period because the Northeast Monsoon helped to give the saplings a good start in growth. In 1971, Lee led politicians in the first National Tree Planting Day, which would take place annually during the first Sunday of November.

Systemically, in the next 10 years, we must separate pedestrian from vehicular traffic. We must give better protection from accidents by railings or drains or raised levels. Pavements must be designed to allow trees to grow, providing shade to pedestrian, and to cut down noon-day sunshine on roads. Pavements of granolithic slabs and concrete stifle trees. They must be forbidden by law. Some must be unceremoniously broken up.

The objective is a city pleasant, green and cool, and safety and convenience for the pedestrian. Trees and vegetation need air, through water, to breathe. We must get the right trees, shrubs, creepers, and ivy for the right soil, exposure of sun, humidity of soil, etc.⁸

The green programme started with the deliberate planting of large trees with big canopies, specifically the Rain tree and the Angsana tree, to provide shade for the people and for the roads. Trees were planted along roadsides and highways as much as and as quickly as possible to give a softer sense of man-made concrete structures. The Angsana tree was preferred because these trees emit a nice fragrance in the streets when they flower. Another advantage of Rain trees and Angsana trees (these can grow up to 25–30 metres in height) was that they could be grown in a nursery before being transplanted to the roadside, which meant that roads could have mature trees within a short period of time. Hence, nurseries were set up by planting on vacant lands in different parts of the island to nurture the plants that were needed. Later, other species of fast-growing trees such as the Yellow Flame trees were added. While Lee regularly gave feedback on greening efforts, he was at the same time amassing knowledge about plants and botany as public sector agencies that carried out his instructions reported on their successes and failures. As the agencies experimented and learnt by doing, so did Lee.

a Greening of concrete structures

As the number of concrete structures in the city increased, Lee asked for the greening of retaining walls, overhead bridges and flyovers, including the areas under the flyovers. Creepers were planted on concrete to soften the appearance of retaining walls and the Ficus pumila was a popular species for this purpose. Plants were added to the bases and structures of flyovers. The Parks and Recreation Division recommended for flyovers to be constructed with a lengthwise gap in the middle, so that each had two flyover carriages with at least 1.5 metres between them for plants and shrubs beneath the flyovers to receive adequate sunlight and rain water.

Hedges, creepers and foliage plants were then grown on barbed wire and fences so that these fence structures were not left bare. In 1976, a campaign was started to plant Baphia nitida (a tall hedge plant) and Cinnamomum iners (Wild Cinnamon trees) along fences of school compounds for aesthetic reasons. Hedge plants needed little maintenance and provided a useful screen against smok...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• List of acronyms
• Introduction
• PART I Culture
• PART II Leadership
• PART III Systems
• Appendix
• Index
• Backcover Page