Built for Singaporeans, shared with wildlife: The making of a City in Nature

From Garden City to City in Nature, Singapore's greening ambitions have changed over the years. To mark SG60, The Straits Times traces the nation's leafy metamorphosis, and why it matters for the people and wildlife of Singapore.

- Chin Hui Shan Lee Pei Jie

Singapore is known as one of the greenest cities in the world. Travel blogs praise it, Singaporeans enjoy it, and now, increasingly, wildlife is too.

As vegetation snakes its way through the urban landscape and nature is restored in the city through "rewilding" efforts, animals once thought to be extinct in Singapore, such as the oriental pied hornbill and smooth-coated otter, have made a comeback.

But Rome was not built in a day. Singapore's greening journey started some six decades ago.

PHASES OF A GREEN JOURNEY

In Singapore's early days, the main idea was to tap greenery to beautify and create a clean city.

When the Garden City vision was unveiled in 1967, Singapore was still a fledgling nation and the image of a well-managed and clean city could help the country thrive, said experts.

This was done with manicured roadside trees and planted gardens, said Dr Lahiru Wijedasa, an ecologist at environmental consultancy and agroforestry firm ConservationLinks.

"There was no real focus on species, more of just planting what grows to give us what we need: a clean, organised city," he added.

Greening later became more intentional and more colours were introduced to the planting palette.

In 2011, Singapore's City in a Garden vision was introduced.

Parks were linked up via the park connector network and developers were encouraged to incorporate skyrise greenery into buildings so as to further integrate nature into urban spaces.

"The regimental planting of the Garden City era was replaced by mixed plantings that mimicked forest structure, with native species playing a bigger role," said Dr Lahiru.

"The idea of a manicured garden in a specific place gave way to a city being incorporated into a garden."

In 2020, the green vision progressed further.