Liveability Framework: Part 2 - Achieving a Sustainable Environment

CLC launched the refreshed Liveability Framework (LF) at the World Cities Summit in June 2024. This is the second of a 10-part series on the LF that showcases its various components through bite-sized articles.

Introduction

Liveability in urban environments is not a static concept. It is a continuously evolving construct that changes with each city’s development phase and is shaped by emerging individual perceptions and aspirations on urban lived experiences, as well as dynamic external forces. Responding to current and emerging challenges, the LF serves as a practical but non-prescriptive reference for city leaders, policymakers and planners to plan liveable and sustainable cities of the future.

In the above LF diagram, the three critical liveability outcomes – Competitive Economy, High Quality of Life and Sustainable Environment - are represented as intersecting circles. Collectively, they establish a holistic urban ecosystem that contributes to overall liveability in a city over the long run. Surrounding these is a "ring" structure consisting of three complementary systems that provide the enabling conditions to achieve and sustain the outcomes.

What does it mean to achieve a Sustainable Environment?

For Singapore, ensuring environmental sustainability while striving for economic growth has been paramount since independence - precisely because we are a small island city-state. Instead of adopting a “develop first, clean up later” approach, we integrated the protection of our environmental integrity into development plans from the start. This helps to safeguard our limited resources for future generations.

Today, Singapore faces a new environmental reality, marred by challenges that include:

1. Intensified climate change impacts, including extreme weather events that threaten urban ecosystems and public health;

2. Exacerbated urban heat island effect, driving demand for energy-intensive cooling and adding strain to energy security; and

3. Heightened food security risks due to global supply disruptions caused by climate events, geo-political decisions, and disease outbreaks.

Therefore, a “sustainable environment” in the context of future Singapore would encompass both environmental protection and responsible resource use, achieved through the active conservation of natural ecosystems and promotion of long-term environmental health. This approach requires safeguarding natural resources, as well as enhancing and constantly re-imagining their use within limited land. The challenge lies in doing all these while balancing competing land uses and reconciling between conservation and development.

Furthermore, achieving a sustainable environment will also require a focus on resource security to secure a reliable and accessible supply of key resources at affordable cost, while emphasising on resilience – in aspects of resource, infrastructural, social - to withstand and recover from future disruptions.

Spotlighting Liveability Outcomes and their Intersections

The refreshed LF emphasises the need to harness the synergies and manage the trade-offs between the three liveability outcomes. While a sustainable environment provides the basic foundation for human survival and enables the attainment of broader liveability goals, it can also give rise to inherent tensions in urban development and resource allocation.

For example, in today’s context, Singapore’s green infrastructure serves multiple purposes - it can support environmental functions while also enhancing quality of life by doubling up as recreational spaces that promote well-being and social cohesion. However, some of these assets face development pressure over time which could result in public push-back. In addition, our intensive greening efforts have facilitated wildlife movement and population growth. At the same time, new developments have encroached into traditionally green areas, displacing animals from their natural habitats. Consequently, the city, experiences increased human-wildlife interactions that are not always harmonious.

Finally, given our tropical climate, thermal comfort is crucial for quality of life. While passive design is being explored, there is still a heavy dependence on the use of air-conditioning in our homes. This presents a two-fold challenge: it contributes to our carbon emissions and is disproportionately out of reach to socially disadvantaged groups.

Conclusion

Overall, achieving a sustainable environment for Singapore will require long term adaptability – both in terms of our policies and how our society as a whole responds to our new environmental reality. For the latter, this means embracing stewardship in how we plan and consume our resources, as well as undertaking critical behavioural or lifestyle shifts to support our policy efforts. Such a holistic strategy is crucial to advance Singapore's sustainability journey and ensure a resilient future.

For more information on the Liveability Outcomes in the LF, please refer to Chapter 2: The Liveability Outcomes here [PDF, 15 MB].

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