LUSH 2.0: Extending the greenery journey skywards
SINGAPORE – The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced new urban greenery initiatives and enhancements to the LUSH (Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises) programme on 12 June 2014, to further strengthen efforts in greening the city and to encourage more pervasive greenery within Singapore’s 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.
“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, URA 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, URA have added more than 40 hectares of green spaces within Singapore’s 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 the people’s overall well-being, living and working environment, are enhanced further.
