So in class I asked Prof Tan about his thoughts on increasing indoor greenery to help increase the greenery of Singapore. He said that while indoor greenery like green walls can help with the greening efforts, it needs to have a specific function and cannot be installed for the sake of being there.
It got me thinking about the greening efforts by some buildings in Singapore and whether those greening efforts are for a functional use or merely for aesthetic appeal or to spread the message “Hey, we have some plants on our buildings. We are a green building!”. Can the pursuit of greenery be too tokenistic? Do developers/building owners blindly chase the greening fad just to be ‘in’?
If you take a look at Kent Vale, the greenery on the sides of its buildings are poorly maintained and, well, almost non-existent. What purpose does it serve? Aesthetics? The CREATE building in UTown, too, has some plants on the sides of its building but they are small in numbers and honestly do not look very appealing to me. What purpose does it serve, then?
What do you guys think? Should there be a purpose behind every act of greening? Do you think developers might be guilty of blindly chasing the green fad without the adequate technical knowledge required?
Yeah, I believe so. I guess their function would primarily be aesthetic rather than functional, just like our monoculture street trees. Probably in our ‘Singaporean’ mentality to follow the crowd and that something is still better than nothing? :p
I live at KV. One thing I’ve noticed is the use of an awful lot of water and pesticides to manage all the greenery here. It has occurred to me to ask myself – is it worth it ?
Hmm, I feel that the on-the-ground greenery in KV is worth maintaining as it enhances the attractiveness of the vicinity and helps in the cooling of the area. It can also provide as a recreational space for residents like you. However, the vertical greenery on the buildings itself may not be worth maintaining anymore as it does not seem to serve any purpose, not even aesthetics since it is very little and probably would be not able to provide other functions such as screening or cooling. Pesticide usage could be kept minimal or to zero, or use organic ways to prevent pests from appearing.