
Tomorrow's Cities: Singapore's plans for a smart nation - ValentineC
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39641262
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mc32
One big improvement they have had is just getting air-con in the bus
terminuses and hubs. Even in January any time outside means dripping sweat.
They used to be open-air.

Rather then the government lead (and miss) why not have the government act
more as an even-distributor of things which are already gaining traction.

Years ago during Japan's go-go years, they have renderings and future plans
for completely redesigned megacities made up of multiple semi-self-contained
smaller hyper integrated neighborhoods --sometimes a neighborhood would be
gigantic pyramidal buildings of capable of being self-sustaining in terms of
labor, housing, recreation, food production, etc. but then the economy tanked
and pop growth flatlined and we have relative slow decline and forgotten are
those grand dreams of the future.

~~~
vosper
> a neighborhood would be gigantic pyramidal buildings of capable of being
> self-sustaining in terms of labor, housing, recreation, food production,
> etc. but then the economy tanked and pop growth flatlined and we have
> relative slow decline and forgotten are those grand dreams of the future.

Those were a fantasy, though, surely. I doubt we could make such structures (I
think sometimes called arcologies?) work with todays technology, even if we
had the resources and no regulatory hurdles. Maybe in a hundred years...

~~~
crdb
You sort of have a small version in the Orchard Road stretch. You could
conceivably live above ION Orchard, go to work in your Takashimaya office, eat
at an ultra cheap Lucky Plaza eatery or blow $300 at Les Amis at Shaw Centre,
shop and exercise in any of the buildings in between, and never be exposed to
the outside whilst living quite a comfortable life. Same at Vivocity, Raffles
Place, Suntec/Promenade/Esplanade...

~~~
sho
If you're living above ION then I doubt you need to scrimp by eating at Lucky
Plaza...

When I stay in jakarta it's a similar feeling. A common pattern is an "anchor"
mall with apartments and office buildings adjacent and in theory you could
just stay inside the complex the whole time. GI/PI and Senayan Square come to
mind. You could just build a dome over SS (and being jakarta, i wish they
would..)

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crdb
You would be amazed at the number of billionaires ambulating Singapore malls
in Uniqlo T-shirts (bought on sale, naturally)... and how non-transparent and
varied rent can be even in the same building: a flatshare I stayed in used to
pay $4.5k/month whilst the American expat next door paid $9.5k/month for the
exact same apartment!

That being said Lucky Plaza food is pretty bad, I only included it because of
the underground walkway that theoretically "joins" it to the Orchard complex.
Since it is technically my neighbourhood, I usually prefer going to ION's B4
food court or Wisma. But Lucky Plaza does have Iris, AFAIK the only true
bespoke tailor in a building riddled with the "overnight Batam job for $200"
types, so an ION resident could be coming over to check on his Loro Piana
cashmere dinner jacket's progress.

I think Suntec is the one that shocked me the most when I first arrived, I got
lost around the (now defunct) bowling place enough times to systematically use
Google Maps until I learnt the corridors, because they don't meet at right
angles. It's kind of amazing to have to think in 3D when you are used to
navigating 2D streets...

~~~
sho
> You would be amazed at the number of billionaires ambulating Singapore malls

Oooohh no I wouldn't...

> Uniqlo T-shirts

You think money grows on trees? Fake calvin klein from a bali outlet store.
The PP watch is real though (and is one of 10).

Doesn't surprised me about the rent. And the apartment next door is probably
empty and has been for years...

Agreed on ION B4, especially since its on the way to Jasons and MUJI, the main
reasons I'd be in ION, and it has a Boost!

Cheers for the tip on Iris. I actually do need some tailoring (not Loro Piana)
and the excess of choice had been intimidating.

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jhanschoo
> "Singapore's way of doing things is that the government leads, then others
> follow," he told me. "This might be a problem - it is too centralised and so
> it may take too long for plans to trickle down.

Thus far, this economic model has well helped Singapore keep up with the
times—though often not the first mover, Singapore is a consistent adopter of
technologies just as they go mainstream. (c.f. NFC in public transport,
sustainable architecture, smartphones, optical fibre)

But given the region's diverse business climates, I wonder if the more usual
decentralized approach makes sense for most verticals for the region. Without
significant expertise and infrastructure in localizing across the region, the
SAM for any new product or service seems to be sufficiently small that
technological improvements in most markets do not scale great enough to offset
R&D costs and other fixed-cost risks for the potential margins to be enticing
to investors.

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yomly
Is anyone here working out in Sg? How is the tech scene there? Are salaries
still low wrt the rest of the world for engineers?

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freelancepuss
If your job requires you to be there, in face-to-face spitting style, then
your job is not about being creative, and then you won't make it anyway,
because you will be replaced by either a cheaper migrant worker or else your
job will be automated into oblivion. If your job does not require you to be
there, in that case, why would you actually care that "smart nation" can only
be bullshit? You can perfectly well NOT care from Bangkok or Auckland. You do
NOT need to be there in order NOT to care. You can do that from anywhere.

