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Conditions Governing Access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Synopsis :

Specially prepared for Habitat U.N Conference on Human Settlements, on behalf of Housing and Development Board. Produced by Radio TV Singapore.

This recording is a documentary on Singapore's public housing programme in the 1960s under the Housing and Development Board (HDB), complete with narration. Details of footage include:

Old Singapore
1.  Scenes of life in the urban slums: an elderly woman clad in samfu walking down the street, neighbours chatting along the pavement, fortune-teller    speaking with an elderly woman, children in the backlanes playing with skipping rope.
2.  Five-foot way functioning as a public walkway and as a shelter from rainstorms, a pavement doubling as a living room and kitchen reflecting the
living conditions of residents.
3.  Aerial view of shophouses in old Chinatown.
4.  Old shophouses divided into separate units or cubicles with bed spaces, clothes hanging, shared kitchen and toilet facilities for housing of migrants.
5.  Temporary dwellings on the urban fringe: a woman sitting with children, a boy with a milk bottle lying on a plywood bench, makeshift clothes hanger, etc, shanty towns in need of improvements for sanitation and hygiene, and to meet the minimum needs of the inhabitants.
6.  An Indian man selling food on bicycle, children riding on bicycle and tricycle, boys playing cards, rubbish strewn on streets, a reflection of unemployment,      social and economic issues.
7.  Construction works: old derelict houses being torn down and building of new flats, workmen doing piling work and laying bricks for new flats.

New Singapore
1.  Long shot of external view of blocks of HDB high rise flats of various types and from different angels.
2.  Interior view of flats: basic amenities, clothes hanging on bamboo sticks, kitchen, living room, and bedrooms.
3.  Aerial view of housing estates.
4.  Town and estate planning:  HDB staff discussing and working together to meet the needs of residents by providing amenities such as playgrounds, car  
parks, neighbourhood centres with shopping facilities, cinemas, libraries, schools, supermarkets and banks.
5.  Scenes of a town centre: people having meals together, shots of a fruit stall, elderly folks chatting, women with children sitting around, children playing,  people sitting and walking, shop vendors selling items and customers browsing, shot of Toa Payoh Branch Library with children carrying books.
6.  Aerial view of housing estates:  flats, towns, swimming pool, parks, playground, industrial sites.
7.  Philips factory with female production workers at work, buses and cars, people waiting at bus stop, office and factory ladies walking and chatting.
8.  Aerial view of high rise flats, buildings and highways, problems encountered with lift breakdowns and vandalism, children playing at a courtyard.
9.  Problems encountered with living in flats: noise and lack of privacy, scenes of an elderly man watching television, a girl studying in a bedroom, open windows of flats, children in playground outside.
10.Another issue: problem with common access corridor, empty corridors, doors closed, gate with padlock, social isolation, fear of intrusion, contrast scenes of an old walkway with people and a corridor with a woman walking alone; necessary to redesign corridors.
11.Aerial view of new flats and highways.