In
How to Make a Great Place (2021), The Urban Redevelopment Authority describes ‘placemaking’ as the understanding of how people use and access public spaces. This knowledge is used to shape and activate public spaces and bring communities together. In Singapore, government agencies have been building close partnerships with stakeholders to plan initiatives in key precincts with this aim in mind. With the emergence of challenges such as COVID-19 and changes in contexts, placemaking has become even more essential in managing physical spaces, especially in NUS where there are continual, rapid changes to university education that need to be addressed.
The NUS campus has undergone major developments, having shifted from Bukit Timah to Kent Ridge. Placemaking has played a vital role in the design and architecture of our buildings while retaining our rich histories, stories and traditions. One may wonder how it has influenced the evolution of the campus, and how it has shaped the NUS community today. In
Kent Ridge: An Untold Story (Tan et al., 2019), it is explained that the buildings in NUS were designed to look similar to ensure the adaptability of the campus to sudden changes.
Against the backdrop of student activism in the 1960s and 1970s, the campus layout thus follows a linear pattern with limited open spaces. It was also built along the natural contours of the Ridge to preserve the beauty of natural elements such as the view of the sea and large green open spaces. A main pedestrian routing that passes through facilities commonly used by students and staff links the whole University, allowing staff and students the ease of walking to different parts of the campus.
To improve the infrastructure and revitalise the campus, the First Master Plan involved three phases of development (Tan et al., 2019). Phase One (1973-1977) prioritised the creation of the new faculties of Engineering and Architecture, Yusof Ishak House and two halls of residence. Phase Two (1975-1981) involved the creation of the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Law, Science and Medicine, and the Guild House. Phase Three (1981-1983) focused on expansion of the physical space to target the increased enrolment by adding floors to the faculties as well as building the Kent Ridge Hospital (now National University Hospital).
Taking into consideration the expected increase in student numbers within the next decade, the Second Master Plan (1991) focused on giving a sense of place to the University (Tan et al., 2019). The focus was placed on augmenting “points of arrival” within the campus, such as Central Library, Yusof Ishak House and Faculty of Engineering, improving road connectivity at Prince George’s Park and the construction of the University Cultural Centre. The Third Plan, formulated in the late 1990s, aimed to establish NUS’ position as a premier international university, and created a distinct mode of student accommodation which emphasised residential learning amid recreational facilities to support social and emotional growth. This manifested into University Town, which has become the University’s lively intellectual, social and cultural hub. Since then, placemaking efforts have been made to build a stronger cultural life on campus for the community with the opening of the University Cultural Centre, NUS Museum and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.