SEC 2 GEO 8

• Housing


  A basic need that everyone should have access to, can be built in a planned or unplanned fashion, using a variety of materials and can come in all shapes and sizes
• Traditional housing


  • Small communities built housing and developed in an unplanned manner (e.g. igloos, farmhouses)
• Types of housing


  • Permanent
  • Temporary (e.g. camping settlement)
• High-rise housing


  Housing with co-storeys/requires lift, related to high density living because it accommodates many people in a given area
• High-rise, high density housing


  Nearer to city, low-rise, low-density housing towards fringe of the city
• High-rise, high density housing


  • Comprises of apartments and shared facilities (e.g. playground, exercise equipment, swimming pools)
• Low-rise, low-density housing


  • Detached or semi-detached houses, have terraces and shophouses
• Categories of housing types

  • Spatial distribution
  • Distance from house and city centre
  • Housing density
  • Location relative to other activities
  • Technology
  • Type of materials (e.g. brick or wood)
  • Social interactions (built for small families/extended families/entire communities)
• Due to populations in cities & urban areas growing faster than the pace of housing development, it results in a housing shortage
• Formal housing


  Legally built housing, provided by government housing programmes or private developers
• Informal housing


  Illegal/unlawfully built housing, built by individuals who are unable to access formal housing
• Formal housing


  • Built using high-quality building materials
  • Residents can expect access to basic services
  • Built by government or private developers
  • Housing units are sold to anyone who wishes to buy them
  • Part of urban planning processes
• In Singapore, all public housing are developed by the Housing & Development Board (HDB)
• Legal right to occupy land

  The ability of individuals to freely obtain, use, and long possess land at their discretion as long as their activities on land do not impede on other individuals' rights
• Access to basic services in formal housing

  • Easy access to water and electricity and the provision of sanitation services
  • Infrastructure to support those services: underground water pipes, electrical substations
• High-quality building materials in formal housing

  • Usually include concrete, metal or hard wood
  • Must adhere authorities' guidelines and use high-quality materials
  • Can help withstand elements such as heavy rain and strong winds
  • Protect occupants from basic threats such as fires and last for a long time with minimal maintenance
• In Singapore, all housing construction must comply with the Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) specifications for building quality & safety
• Informal housing


  Self-built housing settlements, no legal right to occupy land and lack of access to basic services
• Squatter settlements are regarded as undesirable due to facilitating the spread of viruses, social unrest, and degradation of environmental quality
• With proper intervention, informal housing can be a constructive part of housing solutions for over-populated cities and aid in the sustainable development of cities
• Self-built squatter settlements


  • Built by individuals in an unplanned fashion, though appearing to line up neatly along roads or rivers
  • Constructed from scavenged materials such as repurposed zinc sheets and recycled lumber, causing houses to be at the risk of collapsing, being flooded on rainy days or catching fire easily, due to these inferior building materials
• No legal right to occupy land in informal housing


  • Built on necessity and on an available, accessible plot of land by residents desperate for shelter
  • Occupy government or private land/property which is undeveloped and unsecured
  • Illegal occupants of the land
• Lack of access to basic services in informal housing

  • Residents lack access to electricity, water and sanitation
  • Resort to illegally tapping into nearby electrical grids, siphoning water from nearby pipes and disposing sanitary waste into the grounds or nearby rivers
  • Increase the risk of injury and in-health due to electrocution, consumption of contaminated water and waterborne diseases
• Formal housing location


  Desirable land within a city, near greenery and amenities, away from pollution, supported by quality infrastructure such as roads, piped water, electricity and proper waste disposal
• Informal housing location


  Locally unwanted land-use, such as landfills, sewage treatment plants and large, polluting industries, neglected and lack infrastructure development, sometimes near industrial sites as the dwellers want to save on travelling time and cost by living near their workplaces
• Factors affecting housing location

  • Land-use planning
  • Choices made by developers
  • Land prices
  • Availability of housing financial support
• Land-use planning


  • Follow guidelines drawn by planning authorities to ensure that the built environment is well developed
  • Practice zoning to ensure that the built environment is well developed, also shapes the layout of cities and enable various types of developments
• Private developers


  Tend to pick sites that are most commercially viable, to develop a property for profit
• Government developers


  Tend to consider people's needs more than profits
• Informal housing tends to be near large housing or industrial for existing infrastructure (e.g. piped water, electricity, or roads)