TRANSFORMATION OF SINGAPORE INDUSTRIAL ESTATES AND THE IMPACT ON MICROCLIMATIC CONDITION

Abstract

The industrial landscape in Singapore has undergone a vast transformation over the past few decades to meet the needs of national development and economic growth. The alteration of natural land cover has adversely impacted the urban air temperatures and led to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. With the 20% projected expansion of industrial land space over the next 40 years, the understanding of critical built-form related variables that affect the thermal performance is imperative to the long term environmental sustainability of industrial infrastructures. This study employs the use of field measurements and Geographical Information System (GIS) to examine the change in urban morphology and the microclimatic condition across the different forms of industrial estates, using four JTC sites as the basis of study. The findings confirmed that the newer business park developments were around 1.71oC lower than traditional B2 developments. SPSS and GIS were the main tools for analyses. A distinct difference in the morphology was observed with the transformation of industrial estates. However, the findings failed to fully support the hypothesis that Sky View Factor and Green Plot Ratio were the most critical variables in impacting ambient temperatures. Rather, Green Plot Ratio and other structural related variables were the key parameters. The effects of wind, anthropogenic emissions, proximity to parks and water body were not considered in this study, thus are potential areas for future expansion of the research topic. Overall, the results conclude an improvement in the mitigation of UHI effect along with the progressive development of industrial estates over time.