Commentary: Saving Dover Forest and the plight of the Singapore urban planner
SINGAPORE: The ongoing public debates over Dover Forest represents growing public interest in nature conservation and the protection of biodiversity.
Information technology also reveals the uncomfortable fact that in land-deficient Singapore, planning for the needs of the population and economy can come with potential trade-offs.
But as Government minister for National Development Desmond Lee underscored in a Facebook post on Thursday (Jan 28) while visiting Ulu Pandan with nature groups, development and conservation demand not necessarily be a cypher-sum game.
The larger question may be this: Tin can policymakers and conservationists discover a practical approach in striking a eye ground that allows Singapore to retain its biodiversity fifty-fifty every bit it plans for the needs of its future generations?
Perhaps more concretely, at which part of the planning process can the views of nature groups and even members of the public be taken onboard?
READ: IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wild animals
THE DOVER Wood CONUNDRUM
Calls to conserve Dover Forest amidst members of the public and other nature groups, including Singapore Youth Voices for Biodiversity and LepakInSG, emerged later the Nature Guild of Singapore released a proposal suggesting Dover Forest could exist turned into a "nature park" in response to plans to develop a function of the forest into a 33ha housing estate. A Change.org petition has been fix to save the forest.
These sentiments take not gone unnoticed amid Singapore's policymakers.
Two Members of Parliament accept indicated that they will heighten the issue in parliament, with Kingdom of the netherlands-Bukit Timah GRC MP Christopher de Souza filing an adjournment move on the preservation of Dover Forest and Government Parliamentary Committee for Sustainability and the Environment chairman Louis Ng stating he volition raise the issue in Parliament.
This is not the first time public debate has been stimulated by the impending redevelopment of a light-green space.
In 2012, plans to construct a new road through Bukit Brown Cemetery led to public outcry among conservation groups. This prompted and then-Minister for National Evolution Tan Chuan-Jin to lead a public engagement exercise with these groups.
Similar concerns were raised late final year, with members of the public raising a petition to protect Clementi Forest.
Mr Lee has since stated that while Clementi Forest remains classified for residential use, at that place are no immediate plans to develop the site for housing.
SINGAPORE'S URBAN PLANNING Procedure
Singapore takes a long-term approach to urban planning and land-employ policy. At the eye of Singapore'southward urban planning process is the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), with other relevant departments and agencies such equally the Ministry of National Development, Housing and Development Board, and Singapore Country Authorisation playing crucial roles.
In that location are two principal components to this planning procedure. The first stage involves the drafting of a Concept Plan that guides Singapore's development over the next 40 to 50 years.
The Concept Plan lays out the wide strokes of land allocation, taking into account the needs of Singapore's population and economy.
This is followed past the drafting of a Primary Plan, which translates the Concept Programme's broad goals and objectives into more detailed implementation plans for the next x to xv years. It is at this phase that permissible country utilise and densities are specified.
READ: Commentary: Save forests or build iv-rooms? It'southward not a zero-sum game
Both the Concept Plan and Main Plan are reviewed periodically. It is during these periodic reviews and revisions to the Concept Programme and Main Plan that public engagement and consultation is carried out past the URA.
For example, the Chief Plan review procedure of 2022 saw the URA reach out to a range of stakeholders from local communities, professionals, grassroots organisations, and academic institutions. This involved date sessions, pattern workshops, and a Draft Master Plan 2022 Exhibition at the URA Centre.
Even so, both the Concept Plan and Master Program are long-term planning instruments used to plan for developments only implemented decades afterwards.
READ: The Dover Wood debate: Can nature and evolution co-be in urbanised Singapore?
For instance, Dover Forest was initially zoned for residential development in 2003. Information technology was only more than recently, with the impending launch of Ulu Pandan Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, that the outcome surfaced on the public agenda.
While it may non be possible at this stage to go back to the chief planning stage and rezone an surface area already slated for residential development, there may be telescopic withal to incorporate this public demand for conservation and green spaces for futurity developments.
Engaging conservation experts and light-green groups over the design of environmental baseline studies or ecology impact assessments that appraise the implications of construction near nature reserves could be helpful.
Some conservationists point out that in the final eighteen years, Dover Forest has flourished, making it habitation to a diverse group of wildlife. And over the years, many have enjoyed this slice of light-green – hence the keen interest in conserving information technology.
Bated from conserving Dover Forest, the NSS had also suggested several alternative sites for residential development including unused land near One-N and a degazetted golf class at Choa Chu Kang. However, these may not possess the state area needed for constructive town planning.
Singapore takes an integrative arroyo to town planning that incorporates basic amenities such as markets, polyclinics, schools, public transport nodes, and green spaces in to every residential manor. This ensures that towns are self-sufficient and that residents have like shooting fish in a barrel access to basic amenities.
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More than chiefly, this approach to town planning requires larger plots of country to adapt both residential apartment blocks and basic amenities sustaining urban life in these estates.
Situating apartment blocks in smaller plots of land without factoring in demand for accessible civilities can give ascent to a hodge-podge approach to urban planning, adding significant strains to public infrastructure in existing towns.
As newer HDB estates such every bit Tengah and Bidadari take shown, the design of residential estates and new towns can exist adjusted to allow for the incorporation of more than green spaces, or even dark-green zones where wildlife can retreat safely into. The inclusion of such green spaces can too benefit residents immensely.
As Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities Khoo Teng Chye has recently noted, a postal service-COVID-19 approach to urban design must involve the creation of more than green spaces.
Nosotros accept as well come to see how such green spaces contribute to the well-beingness of residents, particularly during the circuit breaker early on last yr.
Listen to conservation scientist Koh Lian Pin discuss why conserving forests and mangroves is critical to our fight against climate change on CNA'due south The Climate Conservation podcast:
CO-PLANNING A CITY IN NATURE
Singapore's approach to designing and integrating green spaces into the urban landscape has evolved significantly over the years.
From its early conception of being a garden metropolis to its current approach of building a "urban center in nature", there is a deepening appreciation of how green spaces and biodiversity can contribute to urban sustainability and citizen well-existence.
The next footstep will be to find more than ways of incorporating public feedback and suggestions into the planning procedure, without compromising on policy efficiency or the broader housing and developmental needs of the population.
READ: Commentary: Let Singapore's greenish spaces grow wild
From a policy perspective, planners and policymakers tin continue to solicit public feedback at key stages of the planning process, such as during revisions to the Main Programme or Concept Plan.
More windows for public engagement can likewise be institutionalised during the planning and implementation process, specially every bit it pertains to the bodily design procedure of towns and housing estates.
For instance, planners can present several possible designs for future towns and HDB estates, each with its own ratio of built-up surface area to green spaces, to the public. In the same way residents' preferences for paint schemes have been incorporated, public feedback of unlike urban designs tin then be factored in to the ultimate urban design process.
For their function, conservationists and members of the public should play an active role in engaging with policymakers as well. This means keeping track of the URA's consultative processes and channels, and providing constructive feedback equally these periodically open up.
There is therefore a need for an active citizenry, as much as there is one for a consultative government. The 2 should go manus-in-mitt when it comes to urban planning.
Having said that, some caution is also needed when considering the needs of electric current stakeholders.
READ: Commentary: The truth behind returning wildlife is less feel-skillful than you call back
While future homeowners do not have a vox at this stage, given that hereafter residential developments such equally Ulu Pandan manor have yet to be put up for sale and balloting, no one wants housing election queues to go longer.
The URA must navigate carefully, balancing the needs of conservationists and homeowners, equally well every bit current and hereafter stakeholders in any given plot of land. In any case, taking a more consultative approach can clarify these needs and hopefully help achieve broad public consensus.
More merely a affair of responding to public needs, such engagement of the public in the planning process can foster a greater sense of stakeholdership and ownership among citizens.
READ: Commentary: How do we make up one's mind which buildings are worth conserving?
One instructive example is the program to create a 6km-long greenish connectedness from the Singapore Botanic Gardens to Singapore River, unveiled after extensive public consultation by the URA and National Parks Board (NParks).
According to the URA, more than 1,500 members of the public had shared their feedback, calling for more than dark-green spaces and family-friendly facilities along Orchard Road.
It is through public consultation that the URA tin appraise the full extent of public demand for green spaces. It is likewise through public consultation that members of the public can give voice to their needs, and hopefully aid shape the urban environment.
All this should exist skilful news for URA's urban planners who may notice renewed purpose in engaging Singaporeans and securing their buy-in in building the homes of our commonage dreams.
Listen to the author, Nature Society of Singapore and a conservation researcher suspension down what makes Dover Forest so special and how conservation and urban planning can get hand-in-hand on CNA's Centre of the Matter podcast:
Dr Woo Jun Jie is Senior Research Swain at the Institute of Policy Studies, National Academy of Singapore.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/commentary-saving-dover-forest-and-plight-singapore-urban-planner-293681
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