The Quintessential Singapore Identity - HDB

I get to explore the city of Singapore a bit in my recent visit and I am quite impressed to learn that 85% of Singaporeans live in public housing and that in Singapore does not reflect as a sign of poverty or lower standards of living.

Public housing in Singapore is managed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and the Board builds and maintains houses commonly known as HDB flats.  Unlike public housing say in Hong Kong, their HDB flats are mostly (90%) owned by those living in them. Most of the owners have very little to complain about because apparently, HDB, in the last 50 years, has done a pretty good job in providing affordable and pleasant housing for their residents (See the results of a recent survey).

Just look at their latest iconic HDB project - Pinnacle@Duxton.



Born out of the first international design competition for public housing, it is also the first in the world with 2 unique skybridges linking the 7 blocks at the 26th and 50th storey. I was told the skybridges create possibly the longest continuous skygardens in the world, offering panoramic views of the city skyline.

Gudos to the Singapore Government, they build houses not just to achieve a housing objective, but has a wider social goal in mind, attaining racial harmony and community integration while upgrading and maintaining high quality living environment for the entire Singapore population.