Summary. In recent years, amid the debates of sustainable development and urban compactness, there has been a widening interest to reintroduce high-rise living in cities. Several European cities including London and Manchester are once again building high-rise housing as part of their urban housing strategy. Elsewhere, in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are distinguished by their high-rise public housing developments. With nearly half of the world's population living in urban areas, the unfolding trend is towards a more urban-style development with taller buildings included as an inevitable housing solution. Drawing on findings from a study of Singapore public housing residents' living experience, this paper aims to look at the increasingly important question of the liveability of high-rise living by discussing the occupants' appreciation and concerns of high-rise.

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With 84 per cent of the Singapore resident population housed in public housing, the ultimate dream for many is to move into private housing, which is generally considered to offer better quality and more exclusive living. This article is concerned with the enabling factors of affordability in housing mobility. It examines the Singapore public housing homeowners' affordability of private housing, suggesting a measure of that affordability. The survey findings indicate that only a small percentage of public homeowners can afford to move to median-priced private apartments. The number is even smaller for the relatively more expensive landed housing with own garden. On a theoretical level, the study demonstrates that the use of multiple methods to measure housing affordability is beneficial as more affordability determinants are included in the measurement.

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