It seems highly appropriate that this month's theme concerns green issues. After all, Singapore is widely known - at the risk of parroting official dogma - as the Garden City, and with good cause.
This has much to do with the fact that, despite our size - a total land area of 778 sq km - , almost half of the island is covered by greenery. This means that there are more than enough parks and gardens for us to roam, picnic, jog, cycle and explore. Even the expressway that leads to the airport is lined with shrubbery and trees, meaning that the first thing visitors get upon arrival is a green eyeful. And of course, there is a government agency that plays a key role in this - NParks, or the National Parks Board.
Wednesday, August 31. 2011
Singapore: The Garden City
As the statutory board entrusted with the task of maintaining the green infrastructure of the island, NParks manages more than 50 major parks and four nature reserves, including the 152 year old, 74 hectare Singapore Botanic Gardens. The Gardens hosts regular musical performances, including a free concert by renowned opera singer Andrea Bocelli last year, which I was privileged enough to review.
And if you think all that greenery isn't enough, there is more on the way, in the shape of the billion dollar
Gardens By The Bay project, situated in Marina Bay in the heart of the city. Comprising three waterfront gardens, the 101-hectare project will include conservatories, mass floral displays and open spaces for concerts and performances. Phase one of is set to open in June next year. Project director Dr Tan Wee Kiat told me last year that the purpose of the project is to create the equivalent of New York's Central Park in Singapore.
He says: "I consider gardens as the epitome of cultural attainment of any civilisation, and therefore Singapore has reached a stage where we can underscore its prominence as a garden city with a garden of the future."
"Global warming and environmental sustainability are things that sound good as catchphrases, but people don’t feel it or are not touched by it. So, we are trying to get people interested in the relationship of plants to the environment. It is education that is not in your face."
And if you think all that greenery isn't enough, there is more on the way, in the shape of the billion dollar
Gardens By The Bay project, situated in Marina Bay in the heart of the city. Comprising three waterfront gardens, the 101-hectare project will include conservatories, mass floral displays and open spaces for concerts and performances. Phase one of is set to open in June next year. Project director Dr Tan Wee Kiat told me last year that the purpose of the project is to create the equivalent of New York's Central Park in Singapore.
He says: "I consider gardens as the epitome of cultural attainment of any civilisation, and therefore Singapore has reached a stage where we can underscore its prominence as a garden city with a garden of the future."
"Global warming and environmental sustainability are things that sound good as catchphrases, but people don’t feel it or are not touched by it. So, we are trying to get people interested in the relationship of plants to the environment. It is education that is not in your face."
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