6 marvelous shophouse styles in Singapore

Find out how structural designs evolved over time from 1840-1980.

According to Urban Redevelopment Authority's "Designing our city" publication, sustainable development is much more than building infrastructure or preserving the environment.  It is about putting the community at the heart of development.  It is also about building rooted and cohesive communities, as well as preserving our local character and sense of identity through the preservation of our built and natural heritage.

Through Singapore’s Conservation Programme, more than 7,000 buildings and structures have been
conserved to date. Singapore have also protected four Nature Reserves to safeguard tropical rainforests and coastal mangroves and kept another 18 Nature Areas for as long as possible.

Here's more from URA:

In our small island home of 714 sq km, over 7,000 heritage buildings and structures in more than 100 areas have been gazetted for conservation. About 6,500 of these are shophouses.

The first shophouses to be conserved and restored in Singapore were in Tanjong Pagar in 1987.

Singapore’s Conservation Programme began in the early 1980s as an integral part of city planning. It was the first large-scale urban conservation programme in Southeast Asia that protects urban streets and areas.

URA's "Desigining our city" publication can be viewed here.