World’s Densest Cities Has Gone Green “Singapore” Symbol of Singapore and its efforts to promote green space, these “Supertrees” belong to a display at the 250-acre Gardens by the Bay , The high-tech structures range from 80 to 160 feet and collect solar energy to power a nightly light show. They have a softer side too: their trunks are vertical gardens, laced with more than 150,000 living plant Singapore calls itself the Garden City, and it’s making good on that promise. Singapore’s meteoric economic rise launched a landscape of towering architecture in the compact city-state, but as the metropolis continues to grow, urban planners are weaving nature throughout—and even into its heights. New developments must include plant life, in the form of green roofs, cascading vertical gardens, and verdant walls.
The push to go green extends to construction as well—green building has been mandatory since 2008.
Much of that vision to keep Singapore both sustainable and livable stems from Cheong Koon Hean, the first woman to lead Singapore’s urban development agency. The veteran architect and urban planner is credited with reshaping the skyline through landmark projects such as the waterfront residential and entertainment quarter Marina Bay—whose gardens are one of the city’s top draws—and the Jurong Lake District, slated to be a second business district and home to a new high-speed rail link to neighboring Malaysia.
