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Singapore Master Planner Liu Thai Ker Dies at 87

His leadership at HDB and URA set the template for Singapore’s public housing and city planning.

Overview

  • Liu’s death on Jan 18 was confirmed by his son and by MORROW Architects & Planners, with his family saying he developed complications after a fall about a week earlier.
  • At the Housing and Development Board from 1969, he helped plan 20 of Singapore’s 24 HDB towns and oversaw roughly half of the nation’s public flats.
  • As CEO and chief planner at the Urban Redevelopment Authority from 1989 to 1992, he contributed to the 1991 Concept Plan update and advanced conservation policies.
  • Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat led tributes highlighting his lasting imprint on homes, public spaces and planning institutions.
  • He founded MORROW in 2017, remained active internationally with work in more than 50 cities, and earlier trained at UNSW and Yale before a stint in I. M. Pei’s New York office.