URA announcing urban greenery initiatives

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced new urban greenery initiatives and enhancements to the LUSH (Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises) programme today to further strengthen efforts in greening the city and to encourage more pervasive greenery within our high-rise urban environment.

Termed LUSH 2.0, the enhanced programme will cover more development types ranging from residential developments to office, retail and even hotel developments. The geographical coverage of LUSH 2.0 will also extend substantially to cover most of Singapore. See Appendix A for more details on LUSH, including the new and enhanced initiatives under LUSH 2.0.

“The provision of greenery in Singapore has always been important in our planning –  not just  because  it  beautifies our  city,  but  because  we  see the  value of greenery in improving our quality of life. This is an effort that involves many partner agencies, as well as developers and building owners, working together to create a lush environment for people to enjoy. Through LUSH 2.0, we hope to bring greenery literally to greater heights in Singapore,” said Ng Lang, Chief Executive Officer of URA.

A significant amount of greenery within developments today is a result of URA guidelines, which require developers to provide greenery in various forms. For example, developers had to provide tree planting verges along the public roads and other site boundaries as early as 30 years ago.

In 2009, URA launched the LUSH programme to consolidate and synergise a number of new and existing green initiatives that encourage more skyrise greenery in private developments. The programme encourages building owners and developers to provide well-planted and designed communal green spaces at both the ground and upper levels of buildings, such as sky terraces and roof gardens. The programme also encourages good design of aesthetically-pleasing green spaces so that urban dwellers in Singapore are always close to greenery.

Since its introduction, we have added more than 40 hectares of green spaces within our urban environment, equivalent to 130 primary school fields. Greenery is well-integrated within our developments in the form of sky terraces, rooftop gardens and vertical green walls. With LUSH 2.0, URA hopes to facilitate even more pervasive and accessible urban greenery so that we can further enhance our people’s living and working environment, and overall well-being.

A lusher living environment for all to enjoy