A SUSTAINABLE PARK : CONCEPTUALIZING FUTURE PARKS OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

Parks are for people. They contribute to better social, economical and environmental health of the city and its inhabitants. However, recent reports of adverse effects of parks have saddled it in much unfavourable light, questioning the roles it once played to the environment and its inhabitants. Combined with sustainable movements abounding in the international and local scenes, this paper attempts to formulate what a sustainable park is. Locally, parks have been looked to raising standards of liveability and the economics of our city. With calls to boost productivity levels, alongside claims that use of naturally-endowed parks as opposed to manicured parks, contribute to better health benefits and thereby increasing productivity levels, lead to the embarkation of fieldwork to investigate if such proclamation is true. Presenting the findings to be consistent with the above contention, the notion of a sustainable park in Singapore might come to mean a naturally-endowed park or one bearing resemblance to it. Adopting such stance and looking at plans to increase its numbers shall definitely set a new direction and change the outlook of future parks in Singapore.