The contributions of urban horticulture to cities' liveability and resilience: Insights from Singapore

Abstract

Social Impact Statement: The importance of urban horticulture, a practice of growing plants in an urban environment, is increasingly recognized. It is widely acknowledged that such initiatives contribute towards liveable, sustainable, and resilient cities. Based on Singapore as a case example, this study highlights how urban horticulture programs, informed by research and implemented at a national level, bring about important benefits to urban dwellers including health and well-being, and social cohesion through people and plant interactions. They support Singapore's vision to be a City in Nature, in addition to promoting food security. The experience in Singapore holds useful lessons for other cities. Summary: Over the past few decades, there has been widespread recognition of the importance of urban vegetation to support cities' goals to be liveable, sustainable, and resilient to disturbances brought about by climate change. In this opinion article, we further highlight the importance of urban horticulture and its role in fostering the vision of Singapore to be a green city. Through the discussion of four national level programs, we illustrate how urban horticulture initiatives contributed to the social imperative to cultivate community ownership of green estates, community ties, and interest in horticulture. Community gardens offer distinct platforms for people to get together. Allotment gardens in parklands enable individuals to engage with nature through the various gardening activities and reap produce. The Gardening with Edibles program encourages home gardening through provision of resources. Lastly, specially designed therapeutic horticulture programs engage target groups to receive benefits from the facilitated nature-based activities. The involvement of relevant governmental agencies, driven by taking an expanded view of urban horticulture targeted at delivering social objectives and achieving the environmental and ecological objectives of city greening, has contributed to the growth and expansion of the initiatives.