5 ideas every city should steal from Singapore

By Meera Senthilingam, for CNN

Singapore's condensed, hot and heavily populated landscape is challenging for urban living but the city-state continues to have a high liveability factor due to well-planned and population-focused urban design.
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Singapore's condensed, hot and heavily populated landscape is challenging for urban living but the city-state continues to have a high liveability factor due to well-planned and population-focused urban design.
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One key aspect of Singapore's infrastructure is the decentralization of commercial hubs, which has reduced congestion and commuting time to improving liveability and ensure combined working and leisure spaces within the restricted land space. Pictured, the Mass Rapid Transit, considered to be among the best public transport systems in the world.
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One key aspect of Singapore's infrastructure is the decentralization of commercial hubs, which has reduced congestion and commuting time to improving liveability and ensure combined working and leisure spaces within the restricted land space. Pictured, the Mass Rapid Transit, considered to be among the best public transport systems in the world.
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To overcome challenges with land availability, developers have moved away from skyrises and moved towards going underground -- deep underground. Pictured, the first of the Jurong rock caverns that opened this year and will be used to for oil storage, enabling 60 hectares of land to be cleared at ground level.
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To overcome challenges with land availability, developers have moved away from skyrises and moved towards going underground -- deep underground. Pictured, the first of the Jurong rock caverns that opened this year and will be used to for oil storage, enabling 60 hectares of land to be cleared at ground level.
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Singapore has set a precedent for water sourcing through its <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/23/living/newater-singapore/">NEWater plants</a> where sewage water is filtered to standards usable as drinking water. Pictured, the membranes through which water is processed at the NEWater plant to remove solids, microorganisms and other contaminants.
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Singapore has set a precedent for water sourcing through its NEWater plants where sewage water is filtered to standards usable as drinking water. Pictured, the membranes through which water is processed at the NEWater plant to remove solids, microorganisms and other contaminants.
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Singapore has slowly been increasing its land mass using marine sand to extend its territory. Today, the city's extensive waste is incinerated and the resulting ash is used within a boundary of marine sand to extend Singapore's land mass. <br />Pictured, sand being sprayed into the sea during land reclamation.
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Singapore has slowly been increasing its land mass using marine sand to extend its territory. Today, the city's extensive waste is incinerated and the resulting ash is used within a boundary of marine sand to extend Singapore's land mass.
Pictured, sand being sprayed into the sea during land reclamation.
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Teams at the Future Cities Laboratory at ETH Zurich are exploring other uses for city waste as materials for construction. Pictured here, a pavilion built for the Ideas City Festival 2015 in New York, USA. Similar concepts are being explored for Singapore.
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Teams at the Future Cities Laboratory at ETH Zurich are exploring other uses for city waste as materials for construction. Pictured here, a pavilion built for the Ideas City Festival 2015 in New York, USA. Similar concepts are being explored for Singapore.
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Singapore's climate is hot and humid resulting in large amounts of electricity -- and space -- consumed by air cooling units and dehumidifiers. The Future Cities Laboratory are piloting a project in which air external to a building is dehumidified and used to cool the façade of a building through units integrated into its walls.
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Singapore's climate is hot and humid resulting in large amounts of electricity -- and space -- consumed by air cooling units and dehumidifiers. The Future Cities Laboratory are piloting a project in which air external to a building is dehumidified and used to cool the façade of a building through units integrated into its walls.
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singapore skylineFuture Cities -- SIN MRTJurong rock cavernsNEWater tanksFuture Cities -- SIN reclamtionpavillion from waste -- new york ideas festivalFuture Cities -- SIN 3for2

(CNN)Singapore is small, hot and heavily populated -- the 5.5 million residents of the tropical city-state live in less than 750 square kilometres of land. And population is expected to reach 6.9 million by 2030.

Despite these challenges, Singapore continues to be amongst the most liveable and economically successful cities in the word, with a GDP equaling that of leading European countries.
With more than 50% of the world's population living in cities already (a figure projected to reach 70% by 2050), Singapore -- where everyone is a city dweller -- is setting trends for rapidly urbanizing countries worldwide.
    But how have they done it?

      1) Have a plan

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      Singapore's developments have strict sustainability principles
      Singapore's developments have strict sustainability principles
      Concept plans have been in place since 1971, with long-term visions and predictions for the design of Singapore's infrastructure. Such long-term planning was crucial as the population was growing much faster than originally anticipated.