Song Rui: Singapore: A Garden City with Advanced and Wise Administration[World Model Cities for Leisure Development, Song Rui (ed), Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2012]

As a city-state, this place is termed as “a city built in the garden”. Although the city is featured with numerous skyscrapers and rapid pace of life, people there can still find a piece of serenity. This is Singapore, a city suitable for living, working and traveling.

According to the results of this research, the leisure development index is 0.789, with the economic index for leisure development being 0.515, environmental index for leisure development 0.852 and the administrative index for leisure development 1.000. Its major superiority lies in high leisure administration ability and favorable leisure development environment.

The state governance pattern of Singapore is fully reflected in its leisure development model, which gives full expression to the clear outline of effective governance. Due to its laudable way of governance, the government has entirely optimized the leisure environment, constantly updated the leisure products and facilities, diversified its leisure activities and promoted its leisure brand throughout the world. The manifestations can be found in the following aspects.

Firstly, through elaborate planning, the city has enjoyed high reputation as the “garden city”, despite the fact that its natural resources are far from abundant. That is to say, its reputation is ascribed to the thoughtful planning rather than a natural endowment. Singapore has succeeded in organically linking greenbelt open space system with rivers and waters and making natural environment part of the “Green and Blue Plan” of urban space, which ensures a favorable living and leisure environment for its residents.

Secondly, it has attached great importance to urban planning and striven for an integral urban development. As early as the founding of the nation, Singapore spent four years in making a conceptual development planning for the whole country, engaging some United Nations experts. Guided by this planning, the government formulated overall urban plan, districts plan and regulatory plan. The government has followed the principles of being in harmony with the environment, the history and the modern life when carrying out its urban construction, which offers distinctive public space for its urban leisure development.

Thirdly, considering the strategic significance of tourism and leisure industry, Singapore government has adopted a series of policies, such as aid program for the development of tourism.

Fourthly, relying on capital investment, it has improved the quality of leisure products and industry system. The travel and leisure resources in Singapore are by no means abundant, but the investment environment is sound and favorable. By virtue of the accumulation of capital, Singapore has continuously developed a variety of travel and leisure programs, including sight-seeing, shopping, exhibitions, festivals, gambling and so forth.

Fifthly, it has increasingly been enhancing the city’s influence through city marketing. The past half century has witnessed Singapore’s transformation from a single sight-seeing tourist site to a world famous tourism destination integrating the comfort of the new world and the charisma of the old world. Singapore sets a good example in terms of destination marketing. Such practices as a scientific strategic plan for the tourist market, in-depth exploration of the market segment and efficient spreading approaches of information in the destination are worth learning.

Song Rui