High Quality of Life: Cultivating a City for Health and Wellness

Singapore’s health outcomes are a result of deliberate planning of the city and environment, good urban governance, and collaboration between different stakeholders. For instance, Singapore’s healthcare services are delivered through three regional health clusters. Distributed geographically with the National Healthcare Group for the central region, Singapore Health Services for the eastern region and National University Health System for the western region, each cluster provides comprehensive and accessible facilities, capabilities, services and networks. In 2022, the Healthier SG strategy was launched to transform the healthcare sector and highlight the need for preventive care. These strategies have laid the groundwork for Singapore to have a healthy population.

With the fast pace of life and crowdedness of living in dense cities, mental health has been an escalating concern worldwide. This is compounded by other elements like the heightened use of social media. To tackle this issue, the Singapore government has taken a strong stance to prioritise mental health. Set in motion in 2023, the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy outlines concrete plans to expand the capacity of mental health services, enhance the capabilities of service providers for early identification and intervention, promote mental health and well-being, and improve mental health and well-being within Singapore’s workplaces.

Like many cities with an ageing population, Singapore must be prepared for the growth of dementia which is estimated to affect 152,000 individuals by 2030. In anticipation of this, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) started the Dementia-Friendly Community initiative to equip residents and businesses with the skills needed to support persons with dementia. This involves a network of Dementia Friends who can lend a hand as community lookouts, and designated Go-To Points for lost persons with dementia to seek help from staff. More work has also been done by the AIC, together with the CLC and the Singapore University of Technology and Design, through a pilot study at Yio Chu Kang to test dementia-friendly neighbourhood infrastructure like sensorial gardens and wayfinding installations. Such programmes champion the independent living of Singapore’s seniors and allow them to age safely in their own homes and communities for as long as possible.

Dementia-friendly neighbourhood infrastructure includes floor wayfinding markers that guide those living with dementia along key routes (Agency for Integrated Care and Centre for Liveable Cities)

To boost health and wellness through the physical environment, Singapore also injects spaces where people can take respite from their daily routines. A key aim as it works towards becoming a City in Nature is to ensure that every household is within a 10-minute walk to a park by 2030. It will also continue to weave blue spaces into the environment through its ABC Waters Programme, further bringing nature into the lives of residents. With these and other strategies, Singapore’s green and blue landscapes are not just backdrops for relaxation and social interaction, but also help to create a more comfortable urban environment by contributing to improved air quality and cooler temperatures.

People jogging at Jurong Lake Gardens (Unsplash)

Cultivating health and wellness in Singapore requires intentional planning of sports and recreational facilities to keep people active. Under the Sports Facilities Master Plan, Sport Singapore continues to develop public sports facilities such as swimming pools and gyms to meet the evolving sporting needs, interests and aspirations of Singapore’s population. The aim is to provide Singaporeans with inclusive, accessible and affordable sports facilities within a 10-minute walk from their homes by around 2030. This is complemented by a variety of sport programmes and other opportunities under ActiveSG, Singapore's national movement for mass participation. To further encourage participation across more community segments, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents received a top-up of S$100 worth of ActiveSG credits as part of commemorations to mark Singapore's 60th year of independence. This builds on previous credit top-ups in 2014 and 2023.

Places that facilitate fun and play also give residents opportunities to relieve stress. As part of the upcoming Draft Master Plan 2025, the URA engaged Singaporeans on their views and ideas on recreational spaces across the island. Taking into consideration the feedback received, the URA's Recreation Master Plan aims to support a variety of recreational nodes and trails offering differentiated experiences island-wide, integrate more play spaces within neighbourhoods, and involve the community in co-creating recreational spaces.

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