Green Spaces in Singapore

📷:Screenshot from NParks’ video on Singapore, A City in Nature.

From nature reserves and parks to vertical gardens, Singaporeans, young and old alike, have been exploring and enjoying Singapore’s green spaces, be it outdoor at the world’s largest collection of tropical orchids at #SingaporeBotanicGardens or the indoor five-storey forest valley with a #RainVortex at the core at #JewelChangiAirport.

But did you know that #Singapore has not always been so green?

In the 19th century, most of Singapore’s primary rainforest was replaced by settlements and plantations as Singapore grew into a trading port. By 1965, the city was filled with crowded squatters, the rivers and streets strewn with rubbish. Amidst competing demands for our limited land space and the many challenges that the nation was facing, our Founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew mooted the “Garden City” campaign in 1967 to transform Singapore into a clean and green city, which he believed would give Singapore an edge over other countries. He wanted Singapore to be a green and liveable space where people are happy to live and proud to belong to. During the early stage, streets and rivers were cleaned up, trees and flora were planted along streets and within buildings.

In the early 2000s, the government progressed to the “City in a Garden” movement where more innovative ways were used to infuse nature into our urban fabric as our population density increases. Vertical and rooftop gardens in high-rise buildings add layers of space for recreation and gathering – the Pinnacle@Duxton (#PinnacleDuxton), which is the tallest public housing in the world, has seven 50-storey buildings linked by gardens on the 26th and 50th floors. Creative use of “green” and “blue” elements by interspersing parks, rivers and ponds across housing estates and within the city centre helps to reduce the feeling of density – the Marina Reservoir at Marina Bay is Singapore’s largest reservoir catchment and first in the city centre, as well as one of the largest freshwater city reservoirs globally!

The movement was so successful that by 2022, more than 40 percent of Singapore is covered in greenery, and over 380km of park connectors have been created – this is more than seven times the length of Singapore from East to West! But we do not intend to stop here. The government is stepping up efforts to transform Singapore into a “City in Nature” by conserving and extending Singapore’s natural capital island-wide. First, growing our nature park networks to better protect and buffer nature reserves; second, naturalising gardens and parks; third, integrating nature into urban areas; and fourth, strengthening connectivity between green spaces. The government aims to grow 200 more hectares of new nature parks, and for every household to live within a 10-minute walk to a park by 2030. Today, Singapore has earned our stripes in being known as a “Garden City-State”, the familiar scenes of lush greenery is something blissfully #takenforgranted.

🔗: Learn more about Singapore’s City in Nature initiative here: https://www.facebook.com/nparksbuzz/videos/302318621028232/

Related post: #TIL Supertrees https://www.facebook.com/ConnexionSG/posts/pfbid02kWdKxC6wwzNAydqgq7en2GgpP96Zf4mqgM79owT22hLwQEM1eprib6XfRApj2PGrl

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