Forum: Holistic greenery and urban planning measures to enhance thermal comfort 

We thank Mr Daniel Lim for his letter “Consider allowing forests to regenerate on urban land plots” (April 30). 

Given Singapore’s land constraints, we need to balance competing land needs, including housing, jobs, greenery and recreation.

Against this backdrop, greenery remains a key urban planning strategy to provide people with easy access to nature for recreation and respite, mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and support biodiversity.  

Agencies adopt a science-based approach to safeguard our most ecologically significant green spaces, such as nature reserves, ecological corridors, and nature park networks.

To balance development needs with environmental considerations, sites required for development are carefully studied, with efforts made to integrate greenery into developments to mitigate environmental impact and UHI effect, while bringing green spaces closer to where people live, work and play.

These can take the form of parks, streetscapes, skyrise greenery and park connectors. 

As part of efforts to transform Singapore into a City in Nature, the National Parks Board (NParks) is expanding Singapore’s natural capital and intensifying greenery in gardens and parks.

For example, NParks will continue to grow the nature park network and aims to add 200ha of nature parks by 2030. We are also moving towards more naturalistic landscapes, with parks and gardens enhanced through more natural designs and planting schemes.  

In some sites, including slopes along expressways, habitat areas in parks and green spaces, as well as Nature Ways, vegetation is allowed to grow more naturally with selective interventions. 

For example, Nature Ways are planted with native trees and plants to mimic the multi-tiered structure of forests. Industrial estates, which tend to experience higher temperatures, have also been progressively enhanced with more trees and greenery over the years. 

NParks aims to plant at least 170,000 additional trees in these areas by 2030. Such efforts strengthen ecological connectivity while helping to cool the urban environment.  

We also enhance thermal comfort through urban planning strategies.

For example, we can improve wind flow in precincts by planning for building porosity, varying building heights, and safeguarding wind corridors. 

We can also reduce sun exposure with measures such as covered walkways and orientating buildings to provide shade.

We will continue to take a holistic approach towards addressing rising temperatures and planning for a liveable and climate-resilient Singapore.

Lee Wai Kin
Group Director, Strategic Planning 
Urban Redevelopment Authority 

Oh Cheow Sheng 
Group Director, Streetscape 
National Parks Board