Singapore is building an ecological “smart” city of 42,000 homes

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Written by Oscar Holland, CNN

In a country where more than 80% of residents live in public housing, the government’s commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it comes to a tropical country where comfort and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact can be even greater.

The pledge of 42,000 new homes in five residential districts, Tengah eco-citizenship, the Malay word meaning “medium”, although located in the western region of the island, will be the 24th new settlement built by the Singapore government since World War II. However, it is the first with centralized cooling, automatic garbage collection and a car-free urban center, which conservationists hope will offer a roadmap to reduce carbon emissions in the city-state of Southeast Asia. .

Officials have dubbed the development a “forest city” because of its abundant vegetation and public gardens. Once home to brick-making factories and later used for military training, the 700-hectare site has been reclaimed by an extensive secondary forest in recent years. An ecological “corridor” 328 meters wide through its center will be maintained, providing a safe passage to wildlife and connecting a water catchment area on one side to a nature reserve on the other.

Planners say the city has been designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind.

Planners say the city has been designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Credit: Courtesy of the Housing and Promotion Board

The project has demonstrated a clean slate for urban planners advocating green design principles and “smart” technology, according to Chong Fook Loong, director of the Singapore Housing and Development (HDB) research and planning group. the agency that oversees the country’s public housing.

“Tengah is a clean slate,” he said in a video interview, explaining that roads, parking lots and utilities are being pushed below the city center. “We go for the ideal concept of traffic segregation, (with) everything that is underground and then the totally free surface for pedestrians, for people. So it’s a very safe environment for everyone.

“We want a city that allows walking and cycling in a very easy to use way,” he added, saying cycling has “taken off” in Singapore in the “last three or five years especially”.

The master plan will include the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, while the streets will also be “protected from the future” to adapt to emerging technologies, Chong said.

“When we planned the road network, we envisioned a future where autonomous vehicles and autonomous vehicles will come true,” he said.

Cooler designer

Although relatively small, with a population of less than 6 million people, Singapore’s per capita emissions are higher than those of the United Kingdom, China and neighboring Malaysia, according to the country’s National Climate Change Secretariat.
This is due, in part, to air conditioning, which accounts for more than a third of the typical energy consumption of households. Global warming will only aggravate this dependence. The Singapore Meteorological Service (MSS) has predicted that by the end of this century, average daily temperatures in the city-state could be at least 34.1 degrees Celsius (almost every day) during the eight warmer months of the course.
An artist's impression of the 2.7-square-mile site.

An artist’s impression of the 2.7-square-mile site. Credit: Courtesy of the Housing and Promotion Board

As such, staying cool will increasingly be a necessity for residents. Instead of demonizing air conditioning, Tengah’s planners have tried to reimagine it. Cold water, cooled by solar energy, will be channeled to homes in the district, meaning residents do not need to install inefficient outdoor AC capacitors (although they can still control the temperature in their homes). own apartments).

According to the city’s energy supplier, SG Group, this will generate carbon dioxide savings equivalent to taking 4,500 cars off the roads each year. The state-owned energy company reports that of the apartments already sold in advance, 9 out of 10 future residents have signed up for centralized cooling.

Planners used computer modeling to simulate wind flow and heat gain in the city, helping to reduce the so-called urban heat island effect (by which human activities and structures make urban areas noticeably warmer than the surrounding nature). Elsewhere, “smart” lights will be turned off when public spaces are unoccupied and garbage will be stored centrally, with monitors detecting when garbage needs to be picked up.

“Instead of using a truck to pick up trash from all the blocks, we will vacuum all the garbage through the pneumatic system to a room that serves several blocks,” Chong said. “From time to time, the (garbage) truck just needs to be picked up from the room.”

One of the city’s five residential districts, known as the Plantation District, will offer community farming.

One of the city’s five residential districts, known as the Plantation District, will offer community farming. Credit: Courtesy of the Housing and Promotion Board

Of the 42,000 homes being built in Tengah, more than 70% will be made available through the HDB on long-term leases. Prices for two-bedroom apartments currently start at just $ 108,000 Singapore ($ 82,000), and the first apartments will be completed in 2023.

All residents will have access to an application that will allow them to control their energy and water consumption. (“You allow them to control where they can reduce energy consumption,” Chong said.) Meanwhile, digital screens will inform occupants of their collective environmental impact, which could even foster competition between residential blocks. , according to SG. Group.

Regardless of whether or not the use of smart technology can significantly affect greenhouse gas emissions, involving residents in their own consumption could lead to behavioral changes, according to Perrine Hamel, an adjunct professor at the School. of Asian Environment of Nanyang Technological University. This, he added, is a crucial part of Singapore’s goal of reaching maximum emissions by 2030 and reducing them thereafter.

“Thinking about food consumption and thinking about how people use air conditioning is part of (achieving climate goals),” he said. “Behavior change will be an integral part, and of course, urban design is the first way to affect and change behavior.”

Fold the project a

Dubbing the project as a “forest city,” planners aim to preserve some of the site’s natural greenery. Credit: Courtesy of the Housing and Promotion Board

Connect with nature

For Hamel, the integration of nature and residential areas – which creates “more opportunities for people to interact with nature” – is where Tengah’s plan is excellent. In addition to the aforementioned forest corridor, the city’s residents will have access to community farming in the so-called plantation district.

Beyond promoting and protecting biodiversity, conserving nature on the site can lead to additional behavioral changes, Hamel said.

“There are many examples, from around the world, that show that changing our relationship with nature through daily encounters helps people take environmental action,” he said. “In that sense, I think the biophilic design and (Tengah’s) master plan really does a good job.”

The Nature Society Singapore (NSS) has criticized the plan to conserve too little (less than 10%) of the site’s existing forest. The environmental group has proposed two additional “basic forest areas” at each end of the green corridor to promote biodiversity and protect migratory species.

Related video: How to design the perfect city

The government said it is “perfecting” its plan based on the NHS report, although the Singapore Land Transport Authority has revealed that even more of the remaining forest (around 3% of the proposed corridor) will be cut to make way for viaducts connecting the city to a nearby highway.

(In an email to CNN, the agency said it would later replant the trees in the cleared area and create “appropriate temporary wildlife crossings … to provide a safe passage for animals during construction”).

However, even critics of Tengah have been well received in the green city, with the NSS concluding its environmental critique by saying it is still “encouraged by this bold plan.”

It remains to be seen what these urban design initiatives mean for the rest of Singapore. When Tengah was first unveiled in 2016, it was the first new city announced by the Singapore government in two decades, meaning all other neighborhoods were designed long before the era of autonomous vehicles and facilities. Internet-enabled. Chong readily admitted that “it’s not that easy” to re-equip underground road networks and pneumatic garbage in existing cities.

However, he took a positive note when asked what the Tengah model offers for future residential projects.

“We try to advance all the lessons, whenever we can and to the best of our ability,” he said. “Look at Tengah and, in a nutshell, you see the future of what (the government) is trying to build: the future of cities.”

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