As our country continuously evolved in developments - technologically, economically as well as structurally in landscapes, let us not forget that amidst all these efforts came a history behind it and the areas that settled the people behind the successes of our country.

Taman Jurong is one of the oldest residential precincts in Singapore. It was mainly coastal swamplands fed by many small rivers meandering through the mangroves in the early days, to the currently developed suburban residential area, with more plans to further transform the area into a business and leisure destination hub serving the west of Singapore.

Joo Chiat is also a residential conservation area and known as the Confederate Estate Road in its earlier days. In 1993, it was gazetted as a conservation district, resulting in the preservation of many shophouses and bungalows that reflected the typical architectural styles of the turn of the twentieth century.

Let us take a "walk" down the lanes of past and present, and reminisce about the earlier days of the current areas.

Acknowledgement: National Archives of Singapore (NAS), Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Housing Development Board (HDB), Taman Jurong Citizens' Consultative Committee and Taman Jurong Community Club, Joo Chiat Citizens' Consultative Committee and Joo Chiat Community Club.