ROOFTOP GREENERY: A STUDY OF ROOFTOP GREENERY IN HDB NEIGHBOURHOODS OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

Singapore has been actively engaging in high-rise housing since the 1960s to cope with its growing population and land scarcity. Despite being so, the Housing Development Board (HDB) of Singapore has consistently ‘green’ more estates which are not only land-effective but believed to encourage ‘green communities’ among its users. After the 1990s, land scarcity problems were severe due to the rapidly growing population and this common greenery had to be brought above ground and onto the roofs of multi-storey carparks (MSCPs) or podium carpark blocks (Eco-decks). This new form of application give rise to rooftop greenery, which has since been pervasively used in HDB estates developed in the recent decade. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the design of such rooftop greenery from 4 HDB neighbourhoods, namely Casa Clementi, Punggol Breeze, The Peak@ Toa Payoh and the Sunshine Court. Quantitative data from the field observations of user frequency of the facilities and climatic data logging of temperature and relative humidity would be supplemented with qualitative survey feedback with users of the greenery. Also, despite the proximity of such communal greenery, low attendance of these greenery is observed. The envisioned ‘green communities’ seemed to be lacking. Since there has been no recent studies on the users’ perception of rooftop greenery in HDB estates, this study not only aims to understand of the usability of such greenery from the users’ perspectives but also aims to validate their responses with climatic data.