District 1 · Core Central Region
Raffles Place · Marina Bay · Cecil
Where the city begins... Singapore's financial heart and waterfront downtown, built on two centuries of reclaimed land.
Image: Marina Bay · Benh Lieu Song · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
The History
Two centuries of land pulled from the sea.
District 1 is the oldest and most reshaped ground in Singapore. When Raffles arrived in 1819, he designated the south bank of the Singapore River as the commercial centre of the new port, and land reclamation began here as early as 1822 — the first of many projects that would pull the shoreline ever further into the sea.
Raffles Place grew into the colonial commercial square and then the nucleus of the modern Central Business District. The most dramatic change came late: Marina Bay itself was created from decades of reclamation, with works around the bay completed in the early 1990s and the URA's 2003 Downtown @ Marina Bay master plan setting the stage for the waterfront city seen today, crowned by Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay.
What's Changing
From a place to work to a place to live.
The downtown keeps shifting from a nine-to-five business core into a round-the-clock district. Building on the URA's long-running Downtown @ Marina Bay vision, the area has added residential towers, hotels and the Marina Bay waterfront promenade to the financial centre, while incentive schemes encourage older office blocks in Raffles Place and along Cecil Street to be redeveloped into mixed-use towers with homes and amenities.
Looking ahead, District 1 anchors the city end of the Greater Southern Waterfront, the long-term plan to redevelop the southern coastline, with Marina South earmarked as a new residential gateway. Layered with MRT interchanges and steps from Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and the Esplanade, the district is steadily becoming somewhere people live, not just commute to.
Why Live Here
Four reasons to live at the centre.
The financial heart of Singapore
Raffles Place and Marina Bay form the country's central business and financial district, the address for global firms and prime offices.
Waterfront living
Marina Bay's promenade, Gardens by the Bay and the bayfront skyline put a world-famous waterfront on your doorstep.
Unrivalled connectivity
A dense web of MRT interchanges links every line, with the airport, CBD and Marina Bay all minutes away.
A 24/7 downtown
New homes, hotels, dining and culture are turning the historic business core into a place to live, not just work.