The Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Wednesday (18 July) that its newly launched residential projects will come with more green features now that it has completed its Biophilic Town Framework.
“The framework provides a strong foundation for holistic planning and design of neighbourhood landscapes. From this month, it will be progressively applied to new housing projects,” said HDB’s Chief Executive Dr Cheong Koon Hean.
Derived from the concept of biophilia, which recognises that the built environment can impact the well-being of humans, the framework was created in 2013 as a guide to enhance existing natural resources and develop residential landscapes to further improve people’s quality of life.
The framework was first adopted in 2015 at the Punggol Northshore District. To date, the Housing Board has launched eight Build-To-Order (BTO) projects there containing a total of around 5,700 units, which will be progressively completed from 2020.
After its first adoption there, the framework was fine-tuned and validated via a 3.5-year research partnership with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), National University of Singapore (NUS), and National Parks Board (NParks).
The framework is now ready, and is outlined in the 215-page book entitled “Nature, Place & People” that was launched the World Cities Summit on 10 July.
Meanwhile, five HDB projects are poised to be honoured by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) during the IFLA World Congress in Singapore today (19 July).
These include Adventure Playground @ Canberra, which is set to receive the Outstanding Award in Culture & Traditions and Excellence Award in Social & Community Health.
Kampung Admiralty will get the Outstanding Award in Social & Community Health. Waterway Ridges at Punggol has clinched the Outstanding Award in Flood & Water Management.
Yishun Nature Park will receive the Excellence Award in Wildlife, Biodiversity, Habitat Enhancement, while Senja Parc View bagged an Honourable Mention in Social & Community Health.
Senior Content Producer, Christopher Chitty, edited this story
