Conference 2003
Greening the City:
Bringing Biodiversity Back
into the Urban Environment
Abstract:
 Urban
Biodiversity and Greening Strategies in Singapore
Mason Tan (Landscape Architect and Director, Mace Studio, Singapore)
This paper provides an
overview of Singapore's "Garden City" programme and its relationship
with biodiversity levels. It defines three landscape periods spanning
the development of Singapore from independence till present day.
The first two periods, the "Survival Landscape" and "Mosaic Landscape"
mark the sixties to the early eighties, and from then to the late
nineties respectively. Massive urbanisation and infrastructure developments
during these periods exacerbated the extinction of numerous native
species of flora and fauna and replaced it with a well-ordered and
manicured lush green mantle with low biodiversity.
Pressure on limited land
of only 680 square kilometres for a projected population of 5.5
million, searching for identity in a monotonous landscape and increasing
costs are challenging the ability to sustain this lush green mantle.
This marks the dawn of the next landscape period, the "Integrated
Landscape" where I am suggesting that strategies of "Local Identity",
"Ecological Design" and "Consolidation" are necessary to meet these
challenges. Biodiversity plays an important role in these strategies
by using Singapore's natural bio-diverse heritage as a rationale
to establish "Local Identity" and as a tool towards achieving sustainable
greenery through "Ecological Design". Through the "Consolidation"
of green spaces to maximise land use, more areas can be made available
for these natural plant communities to flourish. These strategies
can be translated into economic value by packaging the island as
a bio-park for ecotourism. The success of these new strategies will
depend on the ability of policy makers to 'think out of the box'.
Conference sponsored
by:
Follow this link to
view other organisations
supportive of the conference
Top
of page
|
