Singapore City Gallery

Singapore City Gallery is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in understanding the vision and evolution of Singapore’s urban landscape. As a city planning museum, it offers an engaging, educational, and interactive experience that brings the intricacies of Singapore’s development to life. At the heart of the gallery is an impressive collection of exhibits that showcase the planning, design, and transformation of the city. Detailed models, high-resolution maps, and dynamic digital displays illustrate how Singapore’s urban planners have masterfully integrated elements of sustainability, functionality, and aesthetics over the decades. The gallery does a commendable job of breaking down complex urban planning concepts into accessible stories, ensuring that visitors with varying levels of knowledge can appreciate the city’s development journey. One of the standout features of Singapore City Gallery is its interactive setup. Visitors can engage with touch screens and digital simulations that allow for a hands-on exploration of city planning challenges and solutions. This interactive approach not only makes the learning experience enjoyable but also provides insight into the thoughtful decision-making processes behind the city’s continuous evolution.

This free gallery is such an important facet in understanding how Singapore developed over the years. If you are curious about how Singapore became such a massive major metropolitan this place is worth the visit. There is so much information provided here that you could easily spend the whole day soaking it all up and come away with a greater understanding of how Singapore came to be.

This is an underrated free thing to do in Singapore, especially if you're an engineer, interested in city planning, and history buffs. This place is really interesting! You can learn some cool stuff about how Singapore came to be, see how efficient it is, and even peek at its plans for the future.

This was a fun, free, and educational experience right across a hawker. See the history of how Singapore grew from a simple Marsh land to a giant city state with ambitious goals for the future. The models and maps were amazing for a nerd like me.

Really interesting to see how Singapore was established and planned as a city. Plenty of interactive displays so kids were engaged and really enjoyed the miniature of Singapore. Well worth a visit particularly on a hot or rainy day and also free entrance.

Had an enriching time at the Singapore City Gallery at URA! The experience was immersive and thoughtfully curated, offering a deeper understanding of how Singapore has been planned and developed over the years. The interactive exhibits, multimedia displays, and urban planning simulations made the entire visit engaging and educational. It’s truly inspiring to see how the city balances heritage, liveability, and sustainability in such a compact space. Highly recommended for anyone interested in design, city planning, or simply learning more about Singapore’s transformation into a world-class city.

This place is for ones who love city development, land architecture and how to design good neighbourhood living. Although Singapore city state is not as big. They however create success stories in many areas. In a way, I hope my city can do half of what they have done. It is not about capability of leaders or authorities, it is collective thoughts and collaborations among many things.

Really interesting museum that explains all about Singapore’s history from past to present and best part of all, FREE ENTRY. Also conveniently located near Maxwell MRT and food centre. Would recommend anyone who wants to learn more about Singapore to come here

Beautifully designed, well maintained, clean, open and very informative. The gigantic miniature city model said it all about Singapore. Located inside Chinatown, next to the Maxwell Food Centre. This is a great place to stop by to catch a break and to learn more about Singapore. Highly recommend!

How did Singapore grow from a small island nation in the 1960s into an expanding, modern urban city? Learn how the challenges and problems of Singapore are met. Like turning plastics into sand to solve the issue of trash which is recycled to reclaim and create more land. Less rubbish. More highly coveted real estate. Tours are free. When we visited, there was a press conference that talked about new planned developments. Thanks to Cheyenne from Indie Singapore Tours for sharing this unique gem on our tour.

This airport and clean, organized and everyone is kind and helpful. Imagine someone who left their phone or luggage behind??!!! The workers kept on asking who these items belong to!!! This would all be gone in a second at LAX Airport (where homeless and robbers are rampant)!!!

This is an awesome place to bring tourists, especially if they - are sweating profusely - are broke or cheap - have an interest in city planning - like touching (screens) and getting a favorable response - show little interest in MBS/Sentosa/Universal Studios but perk up at the mention of say, Jurong Rock Caverns, aka Southeast Asia's first underground liquid hydrocarbon storage facility (also true for tour guides lah). My friend had the city diorama in mind when she planned our visit, but the gallery certainly exceeded our expectations. It *is* pretty fancy pants, but the exhibits are generally interesting and well done. We unfortunately missed the light and sound show, which has got to be fun.

If you're ever interested in how the current Singapore skyline came about and how the Urban Redevelopment Authority is tasked with the challenge of constantly reinventing Singapore's urban landscape, this museum is a must-visit. The moment you step in, be in awe of the multi-screen panoramic video which shows a typical day in Singapore from people of all walks of life. The rest of the museum consists of a great mix of interactive and multimedia exhibits. You must also check out the miniature model of Singapore, one inside the museum and one on the ground floor public area.

Um. Not sure what the deal was with this place. This was listed in the guide to Singapore's museums that I picked up at another museum I visited. This place was close to Chinatown, where I already was, so I decided to take a look. Seriously, it was in a pretty sad state. The building itself was nice and it seemed like it could have some potential, but other than two relief models of the island, there was really nothing else, even though there were supposedly 3 floors of galleries. This could have been due to the fact that about 1/2 of the gallery was under construction or otherwise inexplicably closed... Maybe it would have been cooler if this had not been the case, but alas, it was.

For the amount of information this place supplies, and for the price (FREE), I think it's worth coming here, especially if you are a local! The idea of city planning may sound like a snooze fest at first, but once you begin your tour, you'll see how it affects your daily life. You can also find answers to why Singapore is built the way it is. It also gets you to think about the future and sustainability, which can seem scary and a bit of a downer, but they're issues that are real and require sensible solutions. I really loved the interactive displays! There was one that required participation of multiple people. I think kids who are 8 and older would appreciate them more. Last but not least, I really enjoyed the architectural models of the city! As a lover of maps, seeing a 3D miniature model of where I live tickled my fancy. :) Once you're done with your visit, you'll appreciate the work and dedication that the Urban Redevelopment Authority puts forth in making Singapore a desirable place to live. And you'll thank them for being in charge of city planning, because if I were in charge, this place would have way too many nail salons, Hello Kitty would be the country mascot, and all bathrooms would have a faucet with whiskey on tap. :-P

The gallery was recently renovated and while some teachers may argue that it is no longer teaching friendly now that the educational features about how to create plans and maps are removed, it now focus on public awareness for all ages. My favourite new features must be the SIM city game that all visitors can play - while it doesn't teach you how to create plans, it makes people think about the dilemmas and considerations when planning for Singapore. There is also a large wall-size touch screen interactive feature that first shows an old heritage photo of places in Singapore and when you wipe that away, it shows you what it looks like today. Nice for heritage buffs and those who miss the nostalgic past like me.