Ang Mo Kio () is a planning area and residential town situated in the North-East Region of Singapore. Located approximately north of the Downtown Core district, Ang Mo Kio is the 4th most populated planning area in the North-East region and ranks 11th in terms of population in the country overall. The planning area is located at the south-western corner of the North-East region, bordered by the planning areas of Yishun to the north, Sengkang to the north-east, Serangoon to the east, Bishan to the south and the Central Water Catchment to the west. Singapore Department of Statistics - Planning Areas/Subzones in Singapore (Year 2015)
Prior to urbanization, the area, much like other rural districts in Singapore at the time, was largely undeveloped, being mainly used for agricultural purposes, with uninhabited plots of land usually covered in dense secondary forest or swamps. National Heritage Board. Ang Mo Kio Heritage Trail Ang Mo Kio was subsequently redeveloped by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in 1973 as their seventh satellite town and the first to be built in metric dimensions, being fully completed by 1980. The first three town councils in the country were established in Ang Mo Kio in 1986, as part of a pilot project to better serve residents of HDB new towns. The concept eventually became adopted under the Town Council Act of 1988 which today, remains as the second-level of administration in Singapore.
Ang Mo Kio today, much like its neighbouring towns, is largely urbanized. However, parks are still prevalent in the town as part of the country's green initiative. Parks include Ang Mo Kio Town Garden East and Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West. The Bishan–Ang Mo Kio Park, located in the adjacent planning area of Bishan, serves residents of both planning areas. The park itself straddles along the Ang Mo Kio–Bishan boundary, making it easily accessible from Ang Mo Kio.
Etymology The origin of the name is contested. Old survey maps relate the area as "Amokiah" or the "Mukim (region) of Ang Mo Kio". The name was formerly written with the characters âng-mô͘, literally "red hair", and one possibility is that the name comes from red-haired tropical fruit rambutan, known as âng-mô͘-tan in Hokkien. However, âng-mô͘ can also be used figuratively to mean "Western" or "Caucasian person". Kio in turn could be written either kiô "bridge", in which case the name would mean "Caucasian's bridge", or kiô "eggplant", in which case "Western eggplant" refers to the tomato, which is not native to the region. There are no reports of tomatoes being grown in Ang Mo Kio, so the bridge theory is more likely; nevertheless, there are several commemorative tomato sculptures around Ang Mo Kio.
Even assuming kiô refers to a bridge, the identity of the bridge remains unclear. One theory states that Ang Mo Kio had two bridges of significance: an old wooden bridge (pang kio in Hokkien) over the Sungei Tongkang river, and a newer concrete bridge on Cheng San Road over a tributary of the Kallang River. Since concrete in Hokkien is âng-mô͘-hoe "Western ash", the bridge and consequently the area around it became known as âng-mô͘-kiô, short for "concrete bridge". Alternatively, the name could refer to a bridge reputedly constructed under the supervision of British engineer John Turnbull Thomson at what is today the intersection of Upper Thomson Road and Ang Mo Kio Ave 1. The area of Ang Mo Kio has also been historically referred to as káu-tiâu-kiô (romanized in some sources as Kou Teu Kio), meaning "nine bridges".
In the 1970s, the area's official Chinese name was changed to (Hokkien: Âng-mô͘-kiô, Mandarin: Hóng mào qiáo), meaning "Bridge of Expansiveness and Prosperity", though the original 红毛桥 is often still used in unofficial contexts.
Geography
Location Ang Mo Kio Planning Area, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, sits within the North-East region of Singapore, and has a total area of about . Yishun bounds Ang Mo Kio to the north, Sengkang to the northeast, Serangoon to the east, Bishan to the south and Central Water Catchment to the west.
The main component of the planning area is Ang Mo Kio New Town. The town itself has seven neighbourhoods, with Neighbourhood 1 to the west, cycling in an anti-clockwise direction to Neighbourhood 6 to the north, and ending with Neighbourhood 7 for the town centre. The town centre is located in the heart of Ang Mo Kio and is sandwiched by two town gardens set on natural hillocks.
Subzones Ang Mo Kio Planning Area is officially divided into 12 subzones for urban planning and statistical purposes. SubzoneLocationNotable structuresAccessibilityAng Mo Kio Town CentreAreas around Ang Mo Kio Central 1, Ang Mo Kio Central 2 and Ang Mo Kio Central 3Ang Mo Kio Library, Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange and AMK HubAng Mo Kio MRT station and busesCheng SanEstates along Ang Mo Kio Street 51, Ang Mo Kio Street 52, Ang Mo Kio Street 53 and Ang Mo Kio Street 54Ang Mo Kio MRT station, Ang Mo Kio Town Garden East and Anderson Secondary SchoolAng Mo Kio MRT station and busesChong BoonSoutheast Ang Mo KioDeyi Secondary School and Pathlight SchoolBusesKebun BaruPrecincts west of Ang Mo Kio Town CentreAng Mo Kio Town Garden West, Kebun Baru Community Club, Kebun Baru Neighbourhood Police Post, CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School, Horizon Green, The Panorama, Horizon Gardens and Mayflower MRT stationMayflower MRT station and busesSembawang HillsEstates along Seraya Crescent, Casuarina Road, Nemesu Avenue, Old Upper Thomson Road, Sembawang Hills Drive and Thomson Hills DriveSembawang Hills Food CentreBusesShangri-LaSouthwest Ang Mo KioMayflower MRT station, Mayflower Secondary School, Ang Mo Kio Primary School, Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and Ang Mo Kio Community CentreMayflower MRT station, Ang Mo Kio MRT station and busesTagoreNorthwest Ang Mo KioTeacher's Estate, Tagore Industrial Estate, Thomson Nature Park and Lentor MRT stationLentor MRT station, Springleaf MRT station and busesTownsvilleAreas around Ang Mo Kio Street 31 and Ang Mo Kio Street 32Ang Mo Kio Swimming Complex, Teck Ghee Neighbourhood Police Post and Townsville Primary SchoolBusesYio Chu KangAreas north of Ang Mo Kio Town CentreYio Chu Kang MRT station, Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange, Yio Chu Kang Stadium, Yio Chu Kang Swimming Complex, Ang Mo Kio Police Division Headquarters, Ang Mo Kio North Neighbourhood Police Post, Ang Mo Kio Fire Station, Ang Mo Kio Bus Depot (SBS Transit) and Anderson Junior CollegeYio Chu Kang MRT station and busesYio Chu Kang EastNortheast Ang Mo KioNanyang Polytechnic, ITE College Central and Amoy Quee CampYio Chu Kang MRT station and busesYio Chu Kang NorthAreas bounded by Seletar Expressway, Central Expressway, Yio Chu Kang Road and Lentor AvenueSungei Seletar Simpang KiriBusesYio Chu Kang WestAreas bounded by Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 and Yio Chu Kang RoadAnderson Primary School, Presbyterian High School, Yio Chu Kang Secondary School and Lentor MRT stationYio Chu Kang MRT station, Lentor MRT station and buses
History
Background and early history The present-day Ang Mo Kio area remained largely uninhabited throughout the 19th century. Settlers were attracted to the area only around the start of the 20th century, as a result of the rubber boom. In the old maps of Singapore, much of the area was labelled as the Ang Mo Kio Forest Reserve with many plantation estates.
In 1934, The Straits Times stated that the mukim of Ang Mo Kio referred to the area between Thomson Road and Yio Chu Kang Road, and consisted of rubber plantations. In August 1938, a then-unnamed village along Thomson Road was named Ang Mo Kio Village by the Singapore Rural Board.
Development of Ang Mo Kio New Town
Initially, Ang Mo Kio was designated as an industrial area housing motor workshops which had to be relocated due to the Urban Renewal Programme, but the plans were then modified to include areas for homes and communal amenities. Plans for the new town were announced by the then-Minister for Law and National Development E.W. Barker in August 1973. The new town was planned to have a total of 45,000 flats, and be demarcated by Upper Thomson and Yio Chu Kang Roads, located adjacent to the Serangoon Gardens estate. To make way for the new town, of land at Teck Ghee village was cleared, with the residents affected rehoused at the Sin Ming road estate.
The HDB referred to the new town as a "new generation" town, and stated that its design was intended to facilitate gracious living, with flats with larger floor areas and buildings constructed further apart from one another. In addition, the town was slated to have industrial areas, shopping amenities, schools, and a garden. Ang Mo Kio was also planned as the focal point of Singapore's motor repair industry, housing the Registrar of Vehicles' headquarters, and was the first town designed in metric dimensions.
The first flats in the new town were completed in 1975, and construction work on the initial section of the town centre, and on the new town's area office, was underway by September 1976. The town centre was planned to comprise a pedestrian mall, which encompassed most of the town centre, a hawker centre, an open area and a bus terminal, and to cater to residents of the new town along with the adjacent Mayflower and Serangoon Gardens estates. In April 1978, the Housing and Development Board introduced a new numbering system for blocks and streets, in which the numbers of the blocks and streets correspond to the neighbourhood that they are located in, in Ang Mo Kio, and subsequently for new towns developed thereafter.
Construction work on a $13.3 million industrial area along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 commenced in June 1979. This industrial area was, according to the Jurong Town Corporation, the first of a new kind of industrial park built beside housing estates. The construction of a polyclinic to serve the new town also commenced in the same year. In 1981, a facility for swimming along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 was completed at a cost of $4.7 million, and in July 1981, the polyclinic in Ang Mo Kio commenced operations.
The design of the town won the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) Outstanding Buildings Award in 1983. The swimming complex at Avenue 1 also won the 1986 SIA Architectural Award for its unique "tetrahedral skylight" design.
The large commercialization of the Ang Mo Kio throughout the mid-1970s and 1980s also saw the rise of neighbourhood startup businesses that remain prominent throughout Ang Mo Kio Town Centre today. One in particular eventually became one of Singapore's largest supermarket chains, Sheng Siong.
The 1980s and 1990s A area of land adjacent to Ang Mo Kio Avenues 3 and 8 was converted into a park and opened as Ang Mo Kio's first town garden in 1981. Plans for a park along Ang Mo Kio Avenues 5 and 6 were confirmed by the HDB in August 1981, with construction of the park, by then named Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West, commencing in March 1983.
Infrastructure
Following the norm in the 1970s, most of the flats are organised in 12-storey long blocks or 25-storey point blocks. In recent years, certain parts of the estate have been rebuilt as part of the long process of renewal. As a result, segments of higher blocks clustered together can be seen interleaved with the older blocks.
With Ang Mo Kio becoming a matured estate, several plots of residential land have been cleared up and sold to private developers for redevelopment. Many private residential projects are being constructed on these sites.
Transportation
Road network