Relationship between locations in a neighbourhood
1. Regions
a) areas with similar physical and/or human characteristics or is known for something
b) spheres of influence of services, events and objects on other locations in the area
There are many ways of classifying regions. Generally, they may be classified based on:
Environmental characteristics: Nature or built-up areas
Human characteristics: e.g. Commercial or residential areas
Geographical location: e.g. East or West
Locations in our neighbourhoods may be classified as regions according to their environmental characteristics - nature or built-up areas.
Look at the Coney Island Park in Punggol - It is an area associated with natural environment.
Locations in our neighbourhood can also be classified as regions according to their human characteristics. Look at Punggol Digital District - can you see why it is a digital business park?
Look at how Jurong area is categorised into different regions specialising in innovation, business, general industries and manufacturing as well as energy and chemical cluster.
Source: https://www.jld.gov.sg/potential
Locations in our neighborhood can also be classified as regions according to their geographical location. Look at Waterway West and Waterway East districts in Punggol.
Spheres of influence of services, events and objects on other locations in the area. Regions can also be the spheres of influence of services,, events, and objects on other locations in the area. In other words, a region’s boundaries are where the effect of the services, events or objects are largely absent. In the context of our neighbourhoods, regions could be classified as the areas that our Town Councils service.
Refer to the map of Singapore below and see the sphere of influence of each town council. Can you spot the one you are living in?
A regional centre in Singapore is a second-tier commercial zone after the main central business district in the Central Area. About 15 times the size of a normal town centre in Housing Development Board (HDB) towns, they are located in three suburban districts of Singapore, namely the Woodlands Regional Centre located at Woodlands in the North Region; the Tampines Regional Centre at Tampines in the East Region, and the Jurong East Regional Centre at Jurong East in the West Region. Future plans for these regional centres to include a fourth regional centre serving the North-East Region in Seletar.
Regional centres primarily serve at least 800,000 people in each region, with people from other regions as a secondary concern. These regional centres contain a collection of shopping malls, hawker centres, and other forms of commercial facilities.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_centre_(Singapore)
2. Spatial patterns
a) non-random arrangement of services, events and objects in an area
b) services, events and objects arranged in recognisable shapes, geometry, clusters and at regular intervals
Spatial pattern - The non-random arrangement of services, objects, and events in an area
Do you see a pattern where the reservoirs are found?
Notice that there are several reservoirs found near the coast. These coastal reservoirs are generally built to catch flood or rainfall and dilute salt water to get drinkable water. Interestingly, there is only one reservoir located in the East side where our airport is located - Bedok reservoir.
Look at the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) map of Singapore below. Singapore’s MRT stations are arranged in recognisable shapes such as circles and lines on a map. An example is the Circle Line, the location of the MRT stations form a circular shape on the map. The Circle Line was designed this way to intersect with other train lines and create more connections, shortening traveling time.
source: https://transitmap.net/singapore-mrt-2019/
3. Spatial associations
a) tendency of a pair of services, events and objects to locate near each other
b) tendency suggests a connection between a service, event or object and another service, event or object
What are the spatial associations of services, events, or objects in a neighbourhood?
Spatial association is the tendency of a pair of services, events and objects to be located near each other. The understanding of spatial associations in our neighbourhoods can enhance our everyday living. For example, children’s playgrounds are often located near adult or elderly fitness corners This allows the adult to supervise their young children, while being able to carry out their own activities.
Another example is the locations of train stations and bus interchanges in close proximity which makes it convenient and much easier for residents to switch from one mode of transport to another.
The proximity of the bus interchange encourages people to use the train instead of connecting to another bus service.
This maximises the number of people taking trains, sustaining its operations.
The same benefit applies to bus operators as the overall number of people using public transport increases due to the convenience.
The wet market is located just next to the hawker centre in Changi Village . Do you know why this is so in many neighbourhood centres?
Hougang is an interesting housing estate which has been divided into different constituencies and the name of some places such as the Punggol park might cause confusion to some.
