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feature | National development
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Expanding
Singapore’s
Urban
Landscape
Urban Redevelopment Authority
Two Urban
Redevelopment
Authority (URA) scholars
share their inspiring
accounts of how their
efforts contribute to
bettering the captivating
urban landscape of
Singapore and making it
a great city to live, work
and play.
By Durga Elamaran
T
he vibrant and eye-catching Singapore of today is definitely not what the country used to
look like in its early years of independence. Singapore’s remarkable transformation is a
result of the proactive and farsighted planning by the URA, where individuals from various
specialisations come together to work towards one goal – to make Singapore a great city to live,
work and play.
Two URA scholars from different disciplines, Benjamin Chan, a 34-year-old Director (Geospatial)
and Clara Seah, a 24-year-old Civil Engineer, have undoubtedly played different yet equally important
roles in their journey with URA to reshape and enrich people’s lives in Singapore.
From Passion to Career
On his part, the affable Benjamin always had an eye for physical infrastructure in an urban setting.
While growing up, he travelled extensively, analysing and appreciating the unique and fascinating
infrastructure found overseas (like in New York City). These experiences made him realise that, in
addition to its history and culture, a country’s physical infrastructure plays a big role in defining its
national identity.
However, his interest and passion were not the only factors that inspired him to take up the
URA Undergraduate Scholarship. “The work done here is very feasible and I strongly feel that
URA has a wide variety of career options to choose from. The plans and the works that we do are
meaningful as they directly affect how residents go about living in Singapore with their loved ones.
This satisfaction certainly played a part in persuading me to pursue the URA scholarship,” says
Benjamin with a smile.
Golden Years at URA
Having been at URA for nine years, Benjamin says that his job has only gotten more exciting
over time as he constantly gets opportunities to involve himself in new projects. During his long
National development | feature
service, Benjamin had the chance to work in
different Groups such as Information Systems
and Geospatial (ISG) and Physical Planning,
which have made his journey with URA all the
more insightful.
He elaborates, “Even though I was in the
Physical Planning Group for five years, I moved
back to the ISG Group recently to head the
new geospatial department. This department
is spearheading a new initiative which involves
the gathering and analysis of geospatial data to
facilitate URA’s decision-making and planning
processes.
“Geospatial data analysis will essentially
allow us to take an in-depth look into Urban
Planning in Singapore. For example, we will be
able to better plan facilities and infrastructure
for towns with differing needs and demographic
profiles like Tiong Bahru and Punggol,” reveals
Benjamin.
Overcoming Multiple Challenges
Nevertheless, Benjamin adds that this datadriven work can get tedious as data is not
always readily available. In fact, work starts
getting tougher after the data is retrieved, as
Benjamin and his team have to process, clean,
visualise and analyse the data to look out for
trends that can support their planning functions
at URA.
And like how every workplace has its
challenges, Benjamin brings to light that the
challenges he faces at work are analogous
to the challenges URA faces as a dynamic
organisation.
He explains, “If we were to accommodate the
needs of every party in urban planning, it would
require a land area equivalent to many times
that of the total land area of Singapore. There
is thus a need for URA to play a balancing role
in addressing everyone’s needs and to find ways
to best maximise the use of land in Singapore.
It is our job to look at the problem from different
aspects and decide on the best way to tackle it.”
the classroom. Nevertheless, the opportunities
offered to her during her journey as a URA
scholar have played an effective role in helping
her ease into working life at URA.
While studying in the UK at the University
of Cambridge, Clara had the chance to learn
from some of the finest minds in the civil
engineering field, including a professor who had
a hand in assisting in the tunnelling of certain
underground sections of Singapore’s Mass
Rapid Transit system.
Clara’s attachments at URA during her studies
also turned out to be of great help. “Throughout
my scholarship, I was offered two different
attachments, one with the Development
Coordination Department and the other with
the Physical Planning Group. My internship
mentors were very supportive and guided me
during the course of my attachments. This
allowed me to prepare myself for my job at URA
upon completing my studies,” says Clara with
satisfaction.
Like other URA scholars, Clara was also
paired with a scholarship mentor and she feels
this was extremely helpful as her mentor had
been through a similar journey and made it
a point to teach and guide her, and could also
readily empathise with the challenges she
faced.
Clara reveals, “I once had to do some design
work during my internship and was unsure on
how to go about doing it. Luckily, I was not left
to figure it out on my own and my internship
mentor made it a point to teach me – in fact,
the knowledge that I have gained from my
internship is applicable to my work today.”
Aboard the URA Scholarship
As a Civil Engineer in URA, Clara is also
very familiar with this balancing role played
by URA, even though she is just a year into
her URA working career. As a relatively recent
graduate, Clara is naturally aware that there
are certain essential skills that are not taught in
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Memorable Adventure with URA
And as a fresh graduate, Clara has already
been given the chance to play key roles in new
projects, including the development of Marina
Bay, which has given her the opportunity to visit
construction sites of major projects there. She
says with enthusiasm, “We visited the work site
of a bridge currently being built in the middle of
the bay next to the Esplanade. The workers had
to build a coffer dam to keep the water out of
the area they were working on. When we visited
the work site, I realised that we were actually
standing at a point below the water level in
the bay while the coffer dam kept our feet dry,
which I found to be an excellent example of
engineering!”
Indeed, both Benjamin and Clara have already
come a long way in their respective journeys
with URA. They have not only benefited much
from the URA scholarship, but from working
in the organisation as a whole. Clara feels that
aspiring scholars should always be passionate
about the work URA does and that URA
welcomes young individuals from a wide variety
of backgrounds, due to the diverse nature of
URA’s work.
Benjamin chips in, “Having a critical mind to
examine the environment that surrounds you
is also vital. URA scholars should look to gain
as much experience and exposure as possible
from the opportunities offered to them, to help
make Singapore a great city to live, work and
play!”