The hanging gardens of the new Babylon
In a country half the size of London, every square centimeter counts. Yet becoming a concrete jungle without a single tree is out of the question. The strategy is to become a true garden city, to improve citizens' quality of life. In 2013, the government pledged that 90% of the population would live within 400 m of a park. Gardens by the Bay is the most famous example. Opened in 2012, the lush 101-hectare gardens have already become a national symbol. Beneath the Supertrees, technological lamp-trees, real plants and even over a million and a half specimens!
The Botanic Garden is also one of the lion's city celebrities. In fact, it's the only Singaporean site to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A well-deserved title, since the gardens are of such exceptional quality that they house the world's largest collection of orchids. This tropical ecosystem is even so rich that a species of arachnid endemic to Singapore, the Leptopsalis ramblae, has been discovered here. More than just a precious ecosystem, Singapore's Botanic Garden has always played a key role in the city-state's history, first as an active participant in the development of the rubber industry that propelled the country's economy, and more recently as the figurehead of the city's greening policy.
Beyond these two stars, Singapore boasts many other equally fascinating green spaces. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, in the north of the state, is twice the size of Gardens by the Bay. Its mangroves are as fragile as they are precious, and represent a crucial passage point for certain migratory birds. In the center, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is home to one of the island state's last primary forests. This unspoilt environment is home to fascinating species such as the critically endangered Javanese Pangolin.
The dream of food autonomy
With the city-state importing 90% of its population's food needs, food security is a crucial issue, one that the government intends to address. In 2019, it launched the " 30 by 30 " program: to cover 30% of its food needs by 2030. How is this possible in a country that devotes just 1% of its land area to agriculture? Here, too, Singapore intends to innovate, with vertical farming, urban farms and agro-technology.
The pioneer in this field is none other than Sky Greens, a vertical farm that has increased the yield of a cultivated area eightfold, while employing eco-responsible methods. This is just one of nearly 300 suspended farms, some of them integrated directly into skyscrapers from the outset, which not only recycle waste water but also act as insulation. Other innovations include aquaponics, which combines fish farming with market gardening. The idea is simple: feed and irrigate plants using nutrient-rich water from aquariums and fish-breeding tanks.
Ecology as innovation
Water supply is subject to the same constraints as agriculture, and is also heavily dependent on Malaysian supplies. The water table is in fact insufficient to supply the island's 5.5 million inhabitants. Here again, to move towards self-sufficiency, the city-state is banking on innovation. The idea is to recycle as much wastewater as possible, thereby minimizing the input of new water, but also to discharge much less polluted water into the sea. To achieve this, the precious blue gold is treated in ultra-modern plants, some of which are capable of processing almost a millionm3 of water a day. The motto of this national water treatment program, aptly named NEWater: "Every drop must be used more than once".
Under the blast of air conditioners
With an average annual temperature of almost 30°C and humidity of 80%, Singapore suffocates. To counter this problem, it has armed itself with a swarm of air conditioners, which adorn every wall of the city, to the point where they are almost considered tools in their own right towards its development. In 1999, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, considered to be the founder of modern Singapore, described the air conditioner as the invention of the millennium, capable of improving the quality of life, concentration and work of people in tropical countries. However, the "invention of the millennium" poses serious ecological problems, absorbing a third of the country's energy expenditure and releasing refrigerants with a warming power 1,300 times greater thanCO2.
Once again, the solution to this problem is technological. The city has built a gigantic cooling network beneath its foundations, in the Marina Bay district. Several kilometers of pipes carry water at 4.5°C from the subsoil to around twenty buildings in the district, cooling them. The water is then returned to the depths to be cooled again.
Public transport paradise
Only 11% of Singaporeans own a car, the result not only of a highly-developed public transport network, but also of a policy designed to discourage personal vehicles through high taxation. Conversely, electric vehicles benefit from a policy of incentives, thanks to substantial tax breaks. As part of its Singapore Green Plan 2030, the city also plans to triple the network of bicycle paths by the end of the decade, and to add 130 km of rail network. In addition, almost half of Singaporeans use buses - a world record for a city of this size. Since 2020, buses have gradually been fitted with hybrid or electric engines, which should replace all diesel buses by 2040.
