Lee Kuan Yew Built A Shady City

How Singapore Engineered a City of Shade

Extreme heat stands as the most deadly climate-related danger for humanity. It claims more lives annually than floods, wildfires and hurricanes combined. The risk intensifies in urban centers, which are heating up at twice the planet's average due to a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. As alarmingly high temperatures occur with greater frequency, city officials across the world, in places from Phoenix to Paris, are creating deliberate plans to expand their shade coverage. Yet, it is the sweltering island country of Singapore that may currently possess the most advanced shade network on Earth. The local population has a long history of employing its own strategies to manage the region’s heavy rainfall and sweltering climate.

Colonial Roots of Urban Cooling

A key element of Singapore’s shade infrastructure is its covered walkways. The precise origin of this public amenity is not known for certain. These passages, known as ‘five-foot ways’, run through the ground floors of arcaded shops and residences. While they bring to mind the columned galleries of Bologna, their origins could be indigenous to Southeast Asia. Sir Stamford Raffles, the British colonial administrator credited with founding modern Singapore, incorporated them into Singapore's first town plan of 1822. He made it mandatory to have unobstructed, continuous sheltered paths along each side of all streets. This ensured efficient transit during bad weather.

The Social Life of Walkways

These five-foot ways quickly evolved beyond simple pedestrian corridors. They became vibrant hubs of social and economic activity for immigrant communities. The sheltered spaces provided relief from the tropical sun and sudden downpours, making them ideal locations for small businesses. An assortment of traders, from cobblers and barbers to food hawkers and letter writers, set up shop along these walkways. This informal economy required little capital and offered essential goods and services cheaply to the working class. The walkways became extensions of the shophouses, used for displaying goods, socialising, and even as viewing areas for street performances.

A Contested Public Space

The dual use of the five-foot ways created tension. Raffles intended them to be open passages for pedestrians at all times. However, shop owners and vendors increasingly occupied the space for commercial and private purposes. This conflict between public access and private use led to disputes. The British colonial government sought to enforce the public right of way, which clashed with local customs. This culminated in events like the Verandah Riots in the 1880s, a direct confrontation over the control and use of these valuable urban spaces.

Lee Kuan Yew’s Vision of a Green City

Over time, Raffles’s ‘verandah-ways’ lost their popularity. The influential prime minister who steered Singapore toward its independence, Lee Kuan Yew, reintroduced them in an updated fashion. Lee was a micromanager with a specific focus on climate and comfort for citizens. He held the conviction that the country’s economic advancement was being hampered by the pervasive dampness in the air. For indoor environments, he famously converted Singapore into an ‘air-conditioned nation’. Outdoors, his commitment to shade was fanatical. He often lectured subordinates over the flawed construction of footpaths, occasionally getting on his knees on the searing pavement to emphasize his argument.

A Deliberate Greening Strategy

Lee Kuan Yew's greening initiative was a calculated move to elevate Singapore's international standing. He sought a dramatic way to distinguish the new nation from other developing countries. A clean and green Singapore, he believed, would raise public morale and attract foreign investment. This began with a tree-planting campaign in 1963, even before independence. The 'Garden City' vision was formally introduced in 1967. It led to an intensive programme that saw over 55,000 new trees planted by 1970, recreating the tree-lined boulevards Lee had admired overseas.

The Architecture of Comfort

During the sixties and seventies, when the authoritarian administration led by Lee built massive public residential complexes, a unique architectural feature emerged. Designers left the bottom levels of all structures exposed to the atmosphere. These areas became communal ‘void decks’. They offered a place for inhabitants to socialize and enjoy any passing air currents. Subsequently, during the late eighties and nineties, this focus on pedestrian comfort continued. Singapore's transportation and housing authorities commissioned the building of independent metal awnings above the footpaths. These shelters provided sheltered access to the closest train or bus services.

An Unattractive but Functional Network

Presently, government bodies report the creation of about 200 kilometers of these covered pathways under programmes like Walk2Ride. This network ensures sheltered access within 400 metres of all MRT stations and 200 metres of bus interchanges and LRT stations. To get a sense of this highly practical yet visually unappealing feat, one could picture the ubiquitous construction scaffolding seen in New York becoming a permanent component of the sidewalk system. The result is immensely functional, though not always aesthetically pleasing. The network provides crucial protection from the elements, encouraging the use of public transport by making the journey more comfortable.

Mandating Shade in Modern Development

Singapore's commitment to shade extends to the private sector. In the United States, property developers have a legal duty to set their buildings back from the roadside to maximize light exposure. Conversely, in Singapore, they have a duty to contribute to the shade network. They must carve out pedestrian overhangs measuring 8 to 12 feet from the ground levels of their structures. Studies show that these coverings produce a psychological effect like a tidy and well-constructed bus waiting area. In the same way a shelter can make a bus wait feel shorter, residents of Singapore indicate that a walk beneath these canopies feels fourteen percent shorter compared to a similar walk exposed to the sun.

Balancing Green and Grey Infrastructure

In the matter of providing shade, a lush tree canopy is almost universally preferred over a bulky aluminum covering. Yet, trees are not a consistently feasible solution. This is according to Lea Ruefenacht, formerly a researcher with the government-backed Cooling Singapore initiative. She points out that trees provide cooling effects through both shade and the release of water vapor into the atmosphere; in the muggy climate of Singapore, additional moisture can exacerbate the discomfort. To achieve comfort, Ruefenacht suggests finding an equilibrium between natural and man-made shade. In Singapore, the most substantial artificial shade exists within the concrete underpinnings of the city's central skyscraper district.

The Unconventional Embrace of Shadows

Real estate firms are obliged to supply what officials define as "sufficient" covering in open-air public squares, which involves cooling a minimum of 50% of the seating capacity from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The source of this cover can be varied—from trees and umbrellas to awnings—but official design manuals also show that the stark shadow from an adjacent skyscraper can fulfill this requirement. This methodology stands in sharp relief to the practices in New York City, where building shadows cast on public spaces are discouraged, and the very possibility of their creation can derail a proposed project. In New York’s more temperate environment, builders receive instructions to position their plazas on south-facing locations to harness warmth during winter.

A City Planned Around Trees

Singapore operates with a different set of priorities. The ideal scenario involves developers positioning plazas to the east of their structures, allowing them to benefit from cooling afternoon shadows. This is an unusual location where city shadows are encouraged as a public benefit. A persistent issue in the world's tropical areas has been the tendency for settlements to inherit building codes from temperate zones. Prime Minister Lee’s insistence on trees was unwavering. He was convinced that a pristine and verdant Singapore would serve as a magnet for overseas investors. He reportedly told the head of the department that flowers were fine, but providing shade was the primary goal.

The Power of Centralised Planning

During the seventies, as he rolled out congestion pricing and other schemes to encourage Singaporeans to switch from private cars to public transportation, Lee shifted his focus to footpaths, pedestrian crossings, and bus shelters, where the intense sun might deter new commuters. In contrast to cities like Los Angeles, where trees are the last consideration in street planning, Lee instructed his land-use strategists to incorporate trees from the outset. This green network is designed by urban planners, built by public works agencies, and managed by a parks authority whose funding grew tenfold during Lee’s tenure.

Greening for Social Equity

This combination of funding and cooperation has been the crucial element distinguishing a healthy urban forest from a collection of struggling city trees. Using robust eminent-domain authority, the Singaporean administration controlled roughly ninety percent of the land mass. Building inspectors would not grant occupancy permits for a new structure until they verified the presence of trees on the property. Singapore’s vast public housing developments also featured green courtyards and paths lined with trees that linked to parks and nature areas. This ensures trees are a common sight found all over Singapore, in affluent and working-class districts alike.

Denser and Greener Simultaneously

Lee wrote in his personal accounts that no distinction was made between middle-class and working-class zones, asserting that such a move would have been politically disastrous for his party. This sets Singapore apart from cities in America, where the presence of shade is a reliable sign of economic inequality. Due to Lee’s clever planning strategies, Singapore achieved a stunning outcome: it grew both denser and more verdant concurrently. Officials report that the city's tree population swelled from about 158,600 in the year 1974 to 1.4 million four decades later, even as its human population increased by three million.

The Evolution to a 'City in Nature'

Today, almost fifty percent of the island is covered with grasses, shrubs, and trees with expansive canopies, debunking the assertion that cities must sacrifice nature for growth. The initial 'Garden City' vision has evolved. First, it became a 'City in a Garden', aiming to integrate greenery into daily life. Now, the goal is to transform Singapore into a 'City in Nature' by 2030. This latest vision, a component of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, focuses on restoring nature into the urban environment. Key strategies include expanding nature park networks, naturalising parks with more native species, restoring urban habitats, and connecting green spaces with ecological corridors.

Building a Network for Wildlife

A core component of the 'City in Nature' plan is enhancing ecological connectivity. NParks aims to complete 300km of ‘nature ways’ by 2030. These are routes planted with specific trees and shrubs that replicate a forest's natural structure. They serve as green corridors, helping wildlife like birds and butterflies move between larger green spaces. This is complemented by an expanding Park Connector Network, with a target of 500km, to ensure every household is within a 10-minute walk of a park.

The Science of Staying Cool

As Singapore heats up due to both global warming and the local urban heat island phenomenon, scientific inquiry directs its cooling methods. This metropolitan heat phenomenon can create temperature differences of up to 7°C between urban and rural areas. The Cooling Singapore research project was launched to tackle this challenge. It has produced a catalogue of 86 mitigation strategies, covering vegetation, urban geometry, materials, and transport. These evidence-based approaches inform urban planning and policy decisions.

A Digital Twin for Urban Planning

A key innovation from the Cooling Singapore project is the Digital Urban Climate Twin (DUCT). This sophisticated tool integrates various computational models to simulate the urban climate. Urban planners and policymakers can use DUCT to run ‘what-if’ scenarios. For example, they can assess the impact of a proposed project on local temperatures or test the effectiveness of different cooling measures before implementation. This allows for more targeted and effective interventions to combat rising urban heat.

Test-Bedding New Cooling Technologies

Singapore is also actively test-bedding new technologies. The resort island of Sentosa recently unveiled a plan to create ten 'cool nodes and zones' by 2030. These areas will use a mix of solutions to lower the perceived temperature by at least 4°C without air-conditioning. Measures include high-volume low-speed fans, misting systems, and special pavement with high solar reflectance. One trial at Siloso Beach uses paint that reflects solar heat to lower surface temperatures by up to 2°C, making the floor cooler for barefoot beachgoers.

Can the Singapore Model Be Replicated?

While Singapore’s success is remarkable, its model is not easily copied. The government’s long-term, unified vision was steered by Lee Kuan Yew, a leader who could be described as semi-authoritarian. This system allowed for coherent, decades-long planning that can be challenging in democratic cities with shifting political administrations. Furthermore, Singapore’s tropical climate is perfect for cultivating trees rapidly. A year-round summer and over two metres of annual rain provide perfect conditions. Nonetheless, Singapore shows what is attainable with intentional government action, offering valuable lessons for cities worldwide.