On January 1 2019, Singapore will introduce a “no smoking zone” along a three kilometre stretch of Orchard Road – one of the city’s busiest shopping districts. It sounds controversial – restricting people’s right to smoke in public spaces, as a way of tackling air pollution and improving public health. But smoking is not actually banned down the length of Orchard Road: instead, smokers will be concentrated in 40 designated smoking areas, spaced 100-200 metres apart.