Singapore is building a ‘smart’ green city with 42,000 homes

Singapore is building a ‘smart’ green city with 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, a government commitment to sustainable urban design can have huge implications. And when it comes to a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact can be even greater.

Promising 42,000 new homes in five residential districts, the eco-city of Tengah – the Malay word for “middle”, although in the western part of the island – will be the 24th new settlement built by the Singapore government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated garbage collection and a car-free urban center that conservationists hope will offer a roadmap to reduce carbon emissions in Southeast Asian city-states.

The enterprise is being dubbed “city of the forest” by employees, due to its abundant green area and public gardens. Since it housed brick factories and later used for military training, the 700-hectare (2.7 square mile) site has been reclaimed by extensive secondary forest in recent years. A 100 meter wide ecological “corridor” will be maintained at its center, providing a safe passage for wildlife and connecting a water catchment area on one side to a nature reserve on the other.

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

Planners say the city was designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Credit: Courtesy of the Housing and Development Council

The project proved to be a tabula rasa for urban planners who advocate green design principles and “smart” technology, according to Chong Fook Loong, director of the research and planning group at the Housing and Development Board (HDB) of Singapore, the agency that oversees public housing in the country.

“Tengah is a blank slate,” he said in a video interview, explaining that roads, parking and utilities are being pushed down from the city center. “We are looking for the ideal concept of traffic segregation, (with) everything in the basement and then the ground level totally free for pedestrians – for people. Therefore, it is a very safe environment for everyone.

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

The master plan will see the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, while the streets will also be “prepared for the future” to accommodate emerging technologies, said Chong.

“When we plan the road network, we imagine a future where autonomous and autonomous vehicles become a reality,” he said.

Cooler by design

Although comparatively small, with a population of less than 6 million people, Singapore’s per capita emissions are higher than those in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia, according to the country’s National Climate Change Secretariat.
This is partly due to air conditioning, which accounts for more than a third of typical domestic energy consumption. Global warming will only exacerbate this dependency. The Singapore Meteorological Service (MSS) predicted that, by the end of this century, average daily temperatures in the city-state could be at least 34.1 degrees Celsius (93.4 degrees Fahrenheit) “almost every day” during the eight warmest months of the year.
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 Development Council

As such, staying calm will increasingly be a necessity for residents. Instead of demonizing air conditioning, Tengah planners sought to reinvent it. Cold water, cooled with solar energy, will pass through houses in the district, which means that residents do not have to install inefficient external AC condensers (although they can still control the temperature in their 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 road each year. The state energy company reports that, of the apartments already sold in advance, 9 out of 10 future residents have registered for centralized cooling.

Planners used computer modeling to simulate wind flow and heat gain across the city, helping to reduce the so-called urban heat island effect (where human activities and structures make urban areas noticeably hotter than nature surrounding). 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 collected.

“Instead of using a truck to collect garbage from each block, we are going to suck all the garbage through the pneumatic system into a chamber that serves multiple blocks,” said Chong. “From time to time, the (garbage) truck just needs to collect in the chamber.”

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 Development Council

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

All residents will have access to an application that allows them to monitor energy and water usage. (“You empower them to take control of where they can reduce their energy consumption,” said Chong.) The digital monitors in each block will inform occupants of their collective environmental impact, which may even stimulate competition between residential blocks, according to SG Group.

Regardless of whether the use of smart technology can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions or not, engaging residents with their own consumption can instigate a change in behavior, according to Perrine Hamel, assistant professor at the Asian School of Environment from Nanyang Technological University. This, she added, is a crucial part of Singapore’s goal of reaching peak emissions by 2030 and reducing them thereafter.

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

Folding the project

By doubling the “forest city” project, planners intend to maintain part of the natural vegetation of the place. Credit: Courtesy of the Housing and Development Council

Connecting with nature

For Hamel, the integration of nature with residential areas – which creates “more opportunities for people to interact with nature” – is where Tengah’s plan stands out. In addition to the aforementioned forest corridor, residents of the municipality will have access to community agriculture in the so-called Plantation District.

In addition to promoting and protecting biodiversity, conserving nature there can lead to new behavioral changes, said Hamel.

“There are many examples, from around the world, showing that changing our relationship with nature through daily encounters helps people to take environmental measures,” she said. “In that respect, I think the biophilic design and the master plan (by Tengah) really do a good job.”

The Nature Society Singapore (NSS), however, criticized the plan to conserve very little – less than 10% – of the forest existing there. The environmental group proposed two additional “central 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 “refining” its plan based on the NSS report, although the Singapore Land Transport Authority has reported that even more of the remaining forest – about 3% of the proposed corridor – will be cleared to make way for overpassing overpasses. connecting the city to a nearby expressway.

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

However, even Tengah’s critics welcomed the eco-city, with the NSS concluding its environmental criticism by stating that it is still “excited by this bold plan”.

What these urban design initiatives mean to the rest of Singapore is yet to be seen. When Tengah was first revealed in 2016, it was the first new city announced by the Singapore government in two decades, meaning that all other neighborhoods were designed long before the era of autonomous vehicles and internet-enabled amenities. Chong readily admitted that “it is not so easy” to renovate underground road networks and pneumatic garbage chutes in existing cities.

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

“We try to bring all the lessons forward – whenever we can and to the best of our ability,” he said. “You 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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