Age of land as parameter for sustainable transformation of Singapore's building stock

• Information about Singapore's topographic change is related to its building stock.
• Large areas of changed topography indicate abrupt transformations of districts.
• Small-scale or no topographic changes indicate slow transformation of districts.
• Land age based conservation strategies can help retain capitals embedded in the built environment.

This paper investigates alternative scenarios to a doctrine of economic growth requiring the cyclical replacement of large parts of the building stock. For the case of Singapore, methods for long-term management of building stocks are discussed. These methods enable continuity of cultural resources and cultural capital that is linked to the built environment, and are pegged to the age of the land's surface. In a two-step approach that spans the district scale and the scale of the entire city-state the relationship between the age of land surface and the character of its built environment is explored. Indicators for development speeds are derived in three areas: the Central Area, Tanglin/Commonwealth and South Bedok, and expounded on in their relation to the entire city-state. Land age based conservation is proposed as a novel tool. At the level of the Concept Plan, land age based conservation can enhance the conventional building based approach and through quotas impact the speed of the replacement of buildings. It is thus a top down strategy for retaining cultural and economic capital embedded in buildings.