Orchard Road is Singapore’s main shopping street and one of its top tourist destinations. It’s probably fair to say it’s one of the most successful commercial areas anywhere. A recent survey rated Orchard Road the best shopping street in the world.
Orchard Road shopping takes place at approximately 40 malls and in many smaller-scale establishments spread over something like 2.5 km (including an extension along Tanglin Road). There are underground connections along the street, but, in the Southeast Asian context, Orchard Road is perhaps most noteworthy as a pedestrian street. During business hours it is always crowded. There can be long waits at traffic lights, and traversing one major cross street—Scotts Road—requires a detour into a tunnel, but Orchard Road is probably more pedestrian-friendly than any other Southeast Asian street of comparable length.
Pedestrians along Orchard Road, Singapore.
Most of Orchard Road was recently (January 1) declared a no-smoking zone.
Bus stop sign Orchard Road, Singapore.
I walked up and down Orchard Road several times at the end of January and can report that there were few if any violators. There are some designated smoking areas a little off the main right of way, but their location assures that there isn’t much of a smoke problem for most visitors.
I could be wrong, but I believe that Orchard Road is the first big-city shopping street in the world to ban smoking.1 In general, Asia was slow to impose smoking restrictions, but several Asian cities—Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangkok—have now become among the world’s leaders in this area. Not only is smoking banned in air-conditioned, indoor public places; it’s also banned in many parks. And Singapore has really taken the lead in restricting smoking on its major shopping street.
- I noticed on a recent trip to Santa Monica that smoking is banned on the Third Street Promenade. But Santa Monica can’t really be called a big city, and the Third Street Promenade is only three blocks long. Orchard Road is comparable in scale and status to the Champs-Élysées in Paris and North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. ↩
Many Japanese cities have banned smoking in entire shopping and commercial districts. Perhaps you’ve seen the sad little enclosed “smoking boxes” the size of an elevator the tobacco companies pay to put on sidewalks in Shibuya.
I’ve recently been in Japan for the first time since 2011 and can attest that Dennis is correct. Bans on outdoor smoking in commercial districts are quite common in Japan, and compliance seems pretty high. Curiously, these bans were apparently instituted as much to prevent littering as to reduce involuntary exposure to second-hand smoke. Also odd: indoor smoking is less likely to be regulated and is common, for example, in small, independent restaurants.
Still, Japan, not so long ago one of the worst countries in the developed world for those who hate tobacco smoke, has really been a pioneer in reducing outdoor smoke pollution.