Land As A Scarce Resource
Land As A Scarce Resource
Land As A Scarce Resource
• only 1/3 of the earth’s surface is land and of this, about half is covered by
mountains, deserts, ice and swamps (pp 6)
= Land constraint
• housing
• industries
• agriculture
• Recreation
Housing
• As a result of rapid population growth in the last few decades, more
land is needed for human activities.
Industries
The integration of transport networks (e.g air, sea and land) is necessary for a
modern economy like Singapore to function well
Agriculture
• Land will be needed for a wide range of amenities like golf courses,
swimming pools, parks, gardens and nature reserves.
Reclaimed land
Limited supply of land
• However, not all land types are available for use. Some examples are
swamps, marshes, low-lying coastal areas, deserts, land damaged by poor
farming practices and abandoned mines.
• Even when there is available land, it may be designated for specific uses,
such as water catchment areas. This leaves limited areas of land for other
purposes such as industry and housing.
• In Singapore, more than half of the total land area is used for military
training areas and water catchment areas.
- growth of industries
• The cost of not being able to use the same piece of land for its next best
use is known as opportunity cost. E.g.:
– near to resources
• Since there are so many competing needs, we should let those who need
it more have the land
Conserving land
• a process whereby empty plots of land are created for various landuses.
Negative impact:
Land Reclamation
• draining waterlogged areas such as swamps and marshes and filling them
with material like sand to form dry land
Land reclamation:
Restoring derelict land
• Derelict land refers to land that is badly damaged and cannot be used
effectively.
• Land can be damaged by human activities and natural disasters like forest
fires and severe floods.
• when crops are continually grown, harvested and not given enough time
to replace its nutrients.
• Animal grazing: Lack of natural vegetation (forest) and hence lack of plant
roots to bind soil particles together
2. Mining activities
• Extraction and drilling for mineral ores permanently scars and disturbs the
land surface
• Mining produces waste that contains toxic metals which may pollute
groundwater and nearby water bodies.
-> Chemicals can be introduced to treat acidic soil and vegetation planted
to prevent soil erosion.
Land reclamation:Empoldering
• Empoldering - method of creating land from the sea through the use of
polders.
• Land reclamation works in the past used to be carried out from depths of
5-10m. Today, reclamation works have to venture into deeper waters of
15m or so and this will incur much higher costs.
When coastal habitats like mangrove swamps are reclaimed, the marine life and
birds may lose their habitats and die.
convenience of having
homes, jobs, services
Construction and reconstruction -> costly
and facilities in the
same area.
Wide range of
amenities ensures that increase in traffic congestion noise and
the needs of many air pollution
users are met
• Such areas are known as high density areas because there are many
people working or living per unit area.
Terracing
Advantag
es of Disadvantages of terracing
terracing
inexpensiv
Difficult to construct
e
The bunds
prevent
the soil
from being
washed
away
Irrigation
-> modern irrigation systems are not widely used in many developing
countries.
Soil-less farming
Advantages of soil-less
Disadvantages of soil-less farming
farming
Background:
– Role of URA:
1. Land reclamation
2. Soil-less farming
3. Building upwards
1. New Business Hubs – Jurong, Paya Lebar (office, hotels, retail, residential,
waterfront leisure destinations)
3. Serious about having fun – recreation at Lim Chu Kang, waterbodies, night
life, arts