Speech by Minister Lawrence Wong at the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress
Jul 18, 2018
I am very happy to join you this morning for the 55th International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress. To all our overseas guests, a very warm welcome and we are very happy to have you here in Singapore, especially also on IFLA’s 70th anniversary.
This is the second time that Singapore is hosting this event. The first time was 17 years ago – that was almost a generation ago. Some of you perhaps were here for the first time, and you’re back here for the second time. If you are one of the overseas guests who did that, I’m sure you would say that Singapore has changed dramatically. Because 17 years ago this place didn’t exist, in fact, this whole area didn’t exist. Singapore changes continuously, but we continue to progress. We are very happy this time to welcome the landscape architect community back to our city again.
Landscape architecture is an exciting multi-disciplinary field. Your roots can be traced back to landscape gardening – this used to be done for manor houses and palaces in the 19th century, and later landscape gardening and the emerging field of urban planning came together to serve the needs of cities and urban areas.
Today, the number of landscape architects worldwide has also grown. The work of these landscape architects continues to evolve, not only in scale but also in scope. This is evident from the theme of this year’s Congress which is “Biophilic City, Future Resilience, and Smart Nation”. These are three major topics which will affect all of us, and will have a significant impact in the way we design and build our cities. Let me share briefly my thoughts on each of these three areas.
Biophilic cities
First, on biophilic cities. This is of critical importance given the rapid pace of urbanisation worldwide. With rapid development, it is easy for cities to neglect their greenery and natural assets. We see this time and time again in cities everywhere. Where with rapid development, with industrialisation, trees are cut down and removed, rivers are abused and covered over. The result is that we end up with a harsh concrete jungle, and a living environment that is stressful and alienating for everyone.
So we really have to start changing our mindsets about urbanisation and development. Stop thinking about urban areas as being separate from nature. But re-imagine and rebuild cities as part of our natural eco-system, co-existing in harmony with nature.
That is why the work you do is so important; and it goes well beyond just sprinkling some greenery on buildings and streets. It cannot be decoration; it cannot just be an afterthought. Landscape work has to be integrated as part of the design and architectural process.
Landscape architects sometimes liken your work to that of a doctor – your mission, to borrow a quote, is to “heal the broken landscapes of progress”. If I may extend the analogy, the doctor would often tell you “prevention is better than cure” – well some doctors will tell you that it’s better to stay healthy than to fall sick. In the context of urban planning, this calls for greater involvement of landscape architects upstream – to integrate nature into our urban designs and planning considerations from the very start. If building and landscape architects can work together, and seamlessly integrate elements of nature into our infrastructure from the outset, we would have far fewer “broken landscapes” to “heal” later on. And in fact, we would have a much better environment where everyone can thrive.
In Singapore, we’ve always been mindful of this because we only have this small island, and we have to protect and take care of this place which is also our home, for ourselves and our children. We have focused on becoming a Garden City even as we started our urbanisation journey. We have ensured that greenery is integrated within our urban fabric throughout our development. Even though we are a compact and high density urban environment, if you were to take a satellite picture from the top and look at Singapore as a city, it is safe to say we are one of the cities with the highest density of green canopy covers in the world.
Now we are taking our efforts to the next level. We are developing a comprehensive network of parks and park connectors; complemented by network of waterways. We are proactively identifying and protecting our biodiversity areas. For new projects, we are developing them in such a way that they are integrated into this eco-system. For example, we are developing a new public housing estate in Tengah – which is the Western part of Singapore. It is an estate which will serve about 40,000 new homes. We are developing this as a “forest town” – where we integrate natural assets and greenery into our urban design in a holistic manner. If you look at the plans for the town, you will see that it is surrounded by lush greenery, and it will have a forest corridor which will be part of a larger network of nature areas. The CEO of our Housing Development Board is here and she is going to speak later, and she will be able to share with you many more details on what we are doing in this new housing estate. But it is an example of how we are integrating landscape considerations, nature considerations from the very outset in our design and building process.
This is the journey of how we have evolved as a biophilic city. We started out wanting to be a Garden City, planting trees, pushing for greenery everywhere. In fact, we have a campaign to do tree planting every year which continues till today, and we made ourselves a Garden City. Later, we decided that we had to integrate our greenery and waterways together, we called Singapore a City of Gardens and Waters – so that we can incorporate green and blue elements into our urban planning. Now, we are taking it even further to be a city in nature, a truly biophilic city, and the journey continues for us.
Resilience
The second theme is on Resilience. There are many aspects to resilience; one common challenge which all cities face is how we can prepare ourselves for the long term challenge of climate change and global warming. No one can predict what will happen in 50 years. But there is no doubt that the climate is changing and global warming is happening – that much is clear. The situation 50 years from now will be different from what it is today. We can already see signs of more adverse weather conditions all around us, and this will continue. So our cities and natural ecosystems will need to be designed with resilience in mind.
Thoughtful landscape design can help make our cities more resilient, and there are simple things that can be done. For example, multi-layered planting along streetscapes helps dissipate strong winds, and also reduce outdoor temperatures. Rooftop greenery can help to cool buildings, and serve as a natural air filter. More importantly, plants and trees help to remove carbon dioxide from the environment through carbon sequestration, which slows down global warming. So when we plan and design cities with nature as a priority, we are also doing our part for climate change.
In Singapore we are taking this very seriously. In fact, we have designated this year as the Year of Climate Change Action. We are putting in place measures not just to mitigate the effects of climate change, but to adapt to climate change. We have been studying, for example, how to plan ahead for the consequences of rising sea levels. We are a low-lying island, just 700 square kilometres, so this poses a very real threat to Singapore. We are studying different ways where we can safeguard and protect our coast lines. Some of these include infrastructure requirements like higher platform levels through reclamation, dykes and pumps. But there are also possibilities of building with nature – where we use natural processes to increase wave dampening, to reduce erosion and enhance soil stability.
We are building up more capabilities in this area. For example, our National Parks Board is developing a eco-hydrological model to assess climate change impacts on our natural habitats. With this, landscape planners and architects will be able to use the tool to guide the design and management of more resilient natural habitats. This is just one example, but with more research, with more scientific evidence, we can start to develop more capabilities and build more resilient environments in Singapore to protect ourselves against the consequences of climate change.
Smart Nation
The third major trend is technology and smart cities. Technology is giving us more powerful tools to re-make our future cities. We have GIS – Geographic Information System, applications and visualisation tools for urban planning; sensors that can be deployed to improve estate maintenance and the delivery of municipal services. The construction and architecture sectors have adopted a tool called Building Information Modelling, or BIM. This is where you start building in the virtual world by developing a digital model. You have different project parties across the entire value chain working on the same digital model. It facilitates communication, it reduces abortive work, and it improves productivity. We think there is potential here for landscape architects as well. We are glad to see more landscape architects adopting BIM in the design and development of natural systems. In Singapore, we plan to use the knowledge we have accumulated to develop a BIM library for regional plants, so that we can help bring landscape architects into the BIM process, and fully harness the capabilities that technology gives us to design and plan better systems, including eco-systems.
Technology is also enabling us to manage our growing inventory of nature reserves, parks, trees, and plants. We already do this today. For example, we have drones and sensors for tree and plant inspections. We are extending this capability to remote monitoring and preventive maintenance. For example, we are now piloting the use of a 360° inclinometer, which can detect early signs of structural instability in trees. This will alert us of potential tree failures early on, so that appropriate preventive measures can be taken.
Another potential use of technology is through digitally-enabled crowdsourcing. This enables us to involve the wider community in landscape management efforts. We have developed an app for the public to upload their own survey data and biodiversity sightings to an online database. The data received from these different groups not only helps educate other users, but also guides future conservation strategies. So, through crowdsourcing, we can now access a trove of previously untapped information. At the same time, members of the public gain a stake as stewards of nature. It is really a win-win collaboration that promotes more sustainable management of our natural heritage and wildlife.
I’ve shared on some of the things that Singapore is doing on these three fronts – biophilic cities, resilience and smart nation and technology. This is a continuous journey for us. So even as we progress in these different fields, we are eager to learn and hear about best practices from all of you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the future holds many challenges but also promising possibilities for the landscape industry.
In our endeavour to continue building cities and endearing homes, all of us – designers, ecologists, builders, architects, policy makers, – have a part to play.
This Congress is timely in bringing us together to explore how we can do so. I hope that there will be many insightful discussions, and encourage all of you to make full use of your time here to form new collaborations and networks.
In addition, as all of you would know, we are holding the Singapore Garden Festival in conjunction with this Congress. We deliberately timed it so that it will be together. You can come here for the Congress and you can also enjoy the Singapore Garden Festival. The Festival showcases designs by international and local landscape designers, and celebrates the excellent and innovative work that many of you do in greening our cities. So do take time to visit the Festival as well.
I wish you all a fruitful meeting and an enjoyable time in Singapore. Thank you very much.