About
Singapore’s Green Awakening is a final-year journalism project by Clarence Chua and Rachel Lim, two journalism students from NTU’s School of Communication and Information.
Over the course of this year-long effort, we talked with stakeholders of the environment to understanding this phenomenon. While governments past have razed the forests and reclaimed the shores, the Garden City project in the 1960s granted some measure of reprieve. But a true green awakening at the turn of the millenium conserved three significant nature sites.
Who has had this awakening? Who remains apathetic? What has it achieved and what more needs to be done? We play observer to five unique areas, and get to know the people, emotions, and policies surrounding them.
Our news feature style articles aim to present the facts past, present and future — click on the links to see each area’s stories.
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Urban Greenery
Singaporeans have worked hard to muscle ‘green lungs’ into the country’s ostensibly most concretised areas, the central business district and the HDB estates. But it doesn’t stop there. At the expense of rental revenue, green-conscious developers are now bringing the green into their buildings.
The Secret Gardens
Frances Burnett’s classic novel saw an English girl discover a secret neglected garden behind the sickening grey of her estate. She tended to it, and it brought joy to the surroundings. To the oblivion of many Singaporeans, lush European-style gardens thrive right behind their housing estates. But these restorative expanses are fighting a losing battle to land-hungry development.
Parks Vs Wild Places
Take a wild space, and you have wild nature, but not enough appreciation. Manicure the wild space, and Singaporeans can appreciate it — to the detriment of the fragile environment. As Singapore’s population climbs, its residents need more recreation spaces. But develop them responsibly, more and more Singaporeans cry out.
The Coasts
At the turn of the millennium, thousands of Singaporeans, fighting accusations of apathy, rallied around saving the now iconic Chek Jawa. But Singapore’s economic aspirations demand more land — and more reclamation. How does nature and development mix in this fragile, hotly-contested boundary?
Green Corridors
Relaxing by large expanses of nature is almost unheard of in land-scarce Singapore. In fact, any such spaces are shrinking, and buildings are taking their place. The solution is innovative: create ‘virtual space’ by linking corridors of green. But given Singapore’s intense land usage, a simple task it is not.
Interview Vignettes
Focused, contextualised narratives of the ideas of the people we have spoken to.
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Why should Singapore’s green spaces concern me?
Many Singaporeans remain apathetic towards the environment, preferring to cosy in their air-conditioned apartments and leave land management to the government. Environmental conservation remains an ideal for many Singaporeans where many choices almost always rests on economic worth. In truth, the urbanisation-conservation issue is one Singaporeans cannot afford to ignore.
It will determine how we, and indeed our children, will live our lives. We will need to face up to how over-urbanisation degrades health — one only needs to look at Hong Kong to know why. Yet leaving too many green spaces underutilised might slow economic growth, lowering the quality of life. What is the right balance? The only answer we got was realising that every one of us will need our own green awakening to together build our future.
The issues extends beyond environment, health and wealth. The outcome of this green awakening will tell the world whether we as a country can develop sustainable: it will define our very identity.
Singapore's Green Awakening 
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