Public Housing Program as a Vehicle for Economic and Social Transformation and Effective Political Tool: The Experience of Singapore

Abstract

The aim of this paper is not to provide readers with a detailed sketch of Singapore's public housing program. Rather, it aims at depicting and examining how a housing program could be an effective political tool and economic/social incentive for the building of a new city-sate. Singapore, which is no longer a part of the Third World, has achieved a rapid and consistent economic growth and social development since its first independence in 1959. A strong political leadership of the People's Action Party's (PAP) government has played a critical role in many aspects of national development. Among various development efforts, the public housing program could be served as one of the most prominent examples of the PAP government's planning and development policy and philosophy. Regardless of its highly-centralized planning and top-down or even authoritarian implementation, the PAP has succeeded in attracting people's political supports, and Singapore has became the city with one of the most orderly planned housing services as a consequent. Now indeed, nearly 90% of the population is living in public housing estates. What could make possible this unique social experiment, and how could it affect the whole economic and social development of the state? Regarding this, economic, social, and political dimensions of the public housing program will be discussed.