This article examines the origins of urban renewal in Singapore through a transnational history lens. It focuses on the role in particular of two United Nations–led teams of experts one headed by Erik Lorange and the other by Charles Abrams in the early 1960s and the impact these had on how urban renewal proceeded in Singapore’s central city area. This approach broadens the focus to encompass more than just the role played by Singapore’s Housing and Development Board and Urban Renewal Authority which dominates much of the existing scholarship. In doing so it finds that there was much more agreement between these international experts and their visions of a modern city and that of the Singaporean agencies and individuals tasked with implementing renewal.

本文通过跨国历史的视角来考察新加坡城市更新的起源。它着重于两个由联合国领导的专家小组的角色，其中一个由埃里克·洛朗奇（Erik Lorange）领导，另一个由查尔斯·艾布拉姆斯（Charles Abrams）领导，在这方面对新加坡中心城区的城市更新进行了影响。这种方法将重点扩大到不仅包括新加坡住房和发展委员会和城市复兴局所发挥的作用，后者还主导着许多现有的奖学金。这样做的结果是，这些国际专家与他们对现代城市的愿景以及负责实施更新的新加坡机构和个人之间的共识更大。