Place Remaking under Property Rights Regimes: A Case Study of Niucheshui, Singapore

From the perspective of institutional analysis, this paper evaluates the place-remaking process of Niucheshui in Singapore. It is found that the redevelopment of Niucheshui since the 1960s has been substantively shaped by the property rights regime over land and buildings. As property rights are defined by the state in the forms of statutory land-use planning, compulsory land acquisition, rent control, land leasing, and conservation of historical buildings, the free market for land redevelopment is reined in heavily by the state. The built form of Niucheshui before 1960 was by and large the product of many private individuals' and communities' initiatives. Those players have faded from the scene since the 1960s, and the redevelopment of Niucheshui is the result of interactions between the state and market forces, though public participation is practised in the land-use planning process. In view of the urban land market behaving and performing within a framework defined by institutions, and property rights being one of the most important institutions, we argue that, not warranted by rhetoric public participation, pluralism and diversity in the built environment are protected by a diverse structure of land property rights which should be incorporated into the place-remaking process.