Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Mr Chairman, over the years, this House has raised questions about the urban heat island effect, with studies showing a difference of 7 degrees celsius between urban and less built-up areas of Singapore. Less has been said about the WetBulb Global Temperature (WBGT).
Both the urban heat island (UHI) effect and WBGT, are important indicators of heat-related stress on the human body at work or at play in Singapore. Researching the UHI and the WBGT brings about questions on ensuring liveability and a high quality of life for Singaporeans in the long-term. There are many factors that contribute to liveability but today, I would like to talk about population density as it is a factor that can intensify the UHI.
The overall population density of Singapore is around 8,000 persons per square kilometres. While this may not be near the population density of certain cities, however, given that Singapore is a country and not just a city, once we break it down further to measure the density of actual liveable space, such as by excluding roads, offshore islands or even industrial estates, the reality can be quite different. How do URA and HDB measure the population density of our towns and estates? For example, if and when HDB measures population density of a HDB town, does it use the total land area or the residential area? Taking this distinction from HDB’s publication entitled “Key Statistics – HDB Annual Report 2021-2022”.
Next, how do URA and HDB take into account population density for the building of our towns, estates and residential homes? URA and HDB should assess the population density of our HDB towns and private estates and consider whether we need to make any adjustment to the density of any of our towns or estates. Measuring density by estate is important because when you have high densities in certain regions over others, what the everyday Singaporean experience is the rush of the crowd where they live when they go about their day-to-day activity.
This is further exacerbated by MND’s decentralisation strategy, which is to reduce congestion in Singapore by bringing jobs closer to homes. Higher population density is also a key contributor to a higher urban temperature. And while some of the urban temperature caused by UHI can be mitigated through infrastructure planning, the day-to-day rush observed by Singaporeans in denser locales is harder to control.
Does HDB evaluate and compare the population density of all HDB towns to ensure that each town’s population density is at a comparable healthy level; and mitigation measures should, perhaps, be carried out to reduce the density in some of the towns with higher density?
For residents of the denser towns and areas, what is being done to reduce the UHI and the WBGT? Can we ensure that upstream planning norms also take into consideration the population density of estates rather than looking at greenfield or brownfield sites available for public and private housing launches? Ultimately, my question to the Government is this: how do we ensure that Singapore remains liveable for the everyday Singaporean, beyond those that have privilege to live in less-dense areas or estates like Bukit Timah or Sentosa?
The Second Minister for National Development (Ms Indranee Rajah): As part of the Recreation Master Plan, we are working to activate and curate networks of recreational spaces across the island, incorporating sports, arts, nature, heritage and wellness.
These spaces will help keep Singapore liveable, amidst our densely built-up environment, something Mr Dennis Tan spoke about. These recreation spaces will be both indoor and outdoor, close to homes and well-connected via footpaths, cycling paths and park connectors.
Let me first touch on our strategies on the climate adaptation front. We continue to adopt creative solutions and new technologies to protect our island against the impact of climate change. Mr Dennis Tan asked how we are keeping Singapore liveable amidst rising temperatures and whether population density is considered in our planning norms.
Key factors that drive the urban heat island, or UHI effect, are building density and the types of human activity, rather than population density. For example, while Central Business District (CBD) and industrial areas have lower population density, they are temperature hotspots. To minimise the UHI effect, we have implemented a wide suite of cooling strategies, at various scales across the landscape. At the national level, greening Singapore remains a key strategy that brings many benefits, including providing shade, cooling our surroundings and enhancing our living environment. Senior Minister of State Tan will share more about our City in Nature efforts.
At the development and district level, we configure new towns and districts to optimise wind flow and ventilation, as well as to reduce heat gain from the sun. At the building-level, we are trialling cool coatings which reflect heat-generating radiation back to the atmosphere.
Ministry of National Development
5 March 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2376
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 