CPID Visiting Scholar, Dr. Beng Kiang TAN, will discuss public housing design in Singapore. Singapore is a young nation that became an independent country in 1965. Shortage of housing was a pressing issue in the early nation building stage and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) was formed to address it. HDB as an institution is responsible for the policy, housing grants, design and construction of social housing (known as public housing in Singapore) and towns. Currently, 80% of Singapore’s resident households are in public housing of which 91% are home ownership flats. These flats are located in housing estates, which are self-contained satellite towns with schools, community centers, library, shops, food centers and sports and recreational facilities. The Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) of the United Nations recognized the achievement of HDB with the World Habitat Award in the Developed Country Category for Tampines Town in 1992. Public housing in Singapore is not merely about providing a shelter, it is a spatial planning tool to advance state objectives such as pro-family policies and building communities. This presentation will address Singapore’s public housing origin, policies, transformations in design from low density to high density, and the challenges moving forward.

Associate Professor Beng Kiang TAN is an educator and registered architect in Singapore with rich practice experience in both the public and private sectors prior to joining academia. As a strong advocate of participatory community design, she leads design studios and service learning projects in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The projects have been exhibited in various exhibitions such as Archifest and Design for the Common Good International Exhibition. Her teaching and research interests are in Participatory Community Design, Social Housing and Design for Aging. She is a recipient of numerous teaching and design awards, including the Pacific Rim Award for Excellence in Public Interest Design 2018 for Smile Village project. She is the former Deputy Head of the National University of Singapore, Department of Architecture and former leader of Community and Housing Section. She served as a council member of the Singapore Institute of Architects and currently sits on various technical and advisory committees. She holds a Doctoral degree from Harvard University, MArch from UCLA and BArch (Honours) from National University of Singapore.

The CPID Talks are aimed at fostering a dialogue about interesting work being done that is relevant to the public interest design field by inviting speakers from a wide variety of disciplines to share their work. This talk will be held in the BUILT Lab in the School of Architecture at PSU (Shattuck Hall 201). Following the talk, attendees are invited to participate in a discussion on the work. We hope you'll join us.