Can Singapore be a city that bounces back and gives back?

City-making is both a science and an art, and sustainable cities should be resilient, regenerative and restorative.

- Lily Kong

It is no longer just a problem for the polar bears in the Arctic, or the Johor Fig tree in the rainforests. Climate change is a here-and-now problem.

Recently, I watched a video showing television actor Darren Lim hoisting his young son onto his shoulders, wading through knee-deep water. Location: Bukit Timah. They were caught in another flash flood. Along Jalan Seaview, residents have stacked makeshift flood barriers outside their homes, hoping they will hold against the next storm surge. For dementia patients, hotter and more humid nights have meant greater restlessness and confusion, where caretakers notice sharper swings in mood and behaviour.

These are not distant warnings about melting ice caps or disappearing rainforests. They are the lived realities of Singaporeans today.

CONVERGENCE OF CHALLENGES

The climate-wrought challenges are not the only ones that cities face. For one thing, geopolitical instability in many parts of the world upends daily life. Just in recent weeks, a wave of protests in Jakarta paralysed transport and disrupted supply chains. Singaporeans felt the ripple effects almost immediately in higher logistics costs and delayed goods. In an interconnected world, political upheaval elsewhere can hit cities hard, given their reliance on global and regional networks.

Second, technological disruption brings both promise and unease. Artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping work, and fuelling fears about job losses. This affects those in cities most sharply. At the same time, mountains of electronic waste and strained environmental resources remind us that progress can create its own environmental strains.

Then there are public health crises. Covid-19 was a stark reminder that a single virus could expose systemic weaknesses in healthcare, mobility, and food security. The looming spectre of an “unknown Disease X” continues to challenge national and city preparedness.