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URA marks 50 years with show and books
The Straits Times
|December 07, 2024
Besides an exhibition featuring the 2024 Architectural Heritage Awards winners, it also launched four urban design guidebooks
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) turned 50 in 2024 and is celebrating with a showcase of the winners of the URA Architectural Heritage Awards 2024 at The URA Centre.
The agency has also launched a collection of four books on urban design in Singapore in a special box set to mark its 50th anniversary. These are available to the public on its website as free e-books.
This year, big conservation projects such as the Bukit Timah Railway Station and Bukit Timah Truss Bridge were recognised along with smaller projects like the Former 17, 19 & 21 Jiak Kim Street Warehouses.
Although URA was formed in 1974 as a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development (MND), its conservation programme was finalised much later.
The challenge in the 1970s was to transform Singapore from a Third World country beset with poor living conditions, underdeveloped infrastructure and a struggling economy into a modern metropolis.
In its early years, URA was responsible for the renewal and redevelopment of the city centre into the Central Business District. It also re-envisioned Marina Bay for longer-term needs.
In this light, the URA was one of the pivotal agencies that helped in pole-vaulting Singapore to First World status.
This story is from the December 07, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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