REWILDING SINGAPORE studios pay attention to the ecological role of landscape architects in the greening of Singapore beyond tidy appearance and maintainability. The series of studios began with an understanding of spatial and temporal characteristics of the primary tropical rain forest – one of the most complex and exuberant ecosystems in the world – made up 99% of our island just a century ago. In the context of the compact tropical city, massive urban developments, disrupted and disconnected urban ecosystems are not avoidable but the urban environment alternative design strategies integrating forest ecology into the built environment.
IN THE STUDIO, 19 graduate students in the Landscape Architecture program, part of the National University of Singapore, worked to develop rewilding strategies for 12 landscape typologies within 1km radius of Central Catchment Nature Reserves (CCNR) over a 14-week period (Aug – Nov 2019). Work included preliminary research to understand the theory
eld trips to identify opportunities and challenges within the assigned typology, and design activities visualizing relevant concepts and operational systems.
MANY THANKS to the following collaborators: Dr. Shawn Lum (Nature Society (Singapore)) who framed the studio at the initial stage and guided us in CCNR through multiple eld trips; Dr. Tan Puay Yok (NUS), Ms. Boo Chih Min (Camphora), Dr. Anuj Jain (BirdLife International) who provided fundamental understanding of the forest ecosystem of Singapore.
See the outcomes from this studio;
Hwang, Y. H. and Endo, K. (Edit), 2020, Rewilding Singapore, CASA, NUS, ISBN 978-981-14-4217-9
Hwang, Y.H., Endo, K. and Lum, S., Rewilding Singapore: exploring landscape design strategies that bring forest ecology into the urban context, CityGreen, 2020, no. 19
Hwang, Yun Hye and Jain, Anuj, 2021, Landscape design approaches to enhance human-wildlife interactions in a compact tropical city, Journal of Urban Ecology, Volume 7, Issue 1, P1-10