Singapore's innovative green buildings are bringing nature back to the city

Singapore native Doris Yip sits at a table in one of the city's busy food courts. The loud chatter and constant movement makes for an environment that never slows down. "To stay in the city — very, very stressful," she said.

An estimated six million people live in this metropolis on the tip of the Malay Peninsula — and with a density almost twice that of Toronto, city living here comes at a cost. "I was born in 1959," Yip said. "In Singapore that year, there's no tall buildings." But in the '70s, urban growth took off, and that, coupled with large-scale deforestation over decades, significantly reduced the animal and plant life.

Surrounded by concrete and steel, the population has been grappling with common ailments — anxiety, obesity, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other health issues. But there are growing efforts to incorporate green space into the urban environment.

This clip from the "Cities" episode of Shared Planet, a series from The Nature of Things, shows the extraordinary efforts to bring nature back to Singapore.

In 2009, the Singapore government introduced a mandate for all new buildings to replace the greenery lost on the ground due to development. Visionary architects have been working to incorporate vegetation into the urban landscape — not outward, but upward, by adding greenery to highrise terraces and gardens, for example. The goal is to develop a lush urban forest, stretching across the city and offering spaces of relief for inhabitants, lowering the air temperature and improving the air quality.

"Nature is our life-support system," said Richard Hassell, an architect whose firm aims for solutions to climate change, population growth and rapid urbanization with its designs. "We think it's a human right to be within touching distance of nature."

Thanks to the government's policy, boxy grey buildings are adorned with green drapery, and crawling vines stretch across windows. A painted turtle splashes through a shallow pool as Hassell emerges on a rooftop, surrounded by lush foliage and squawking birds.

And this doesn't just benefit the locals. Tourists come from around the world to see the transformative architecture, including the giant vertical gardens of the Supertree Grove and the seven-storey waterfall at Jewel Changi Airport. 

The city-state is also investing in therapeutic tourism and creating naturalized spaces that support people with dementia and neurodiverse children, including those with autism. 

Watch the video above for the full story.

Watch Shared Planet on CBC Gem and the Nature of Things YouTube channel.