On the Scene Singapore: Locals Talk About Current Trends in Their City

Singapore is not just about skyscrapers and spectacular buildings. The government launched the Garden City program back in the late 1960s. Back then, the initiative focused more on green belts, on beautifying the city with flowers and trees. 

Today, it's less about aesthetics and more about sustainability, natural cooling and reducing emissions. Since the lockdowns, I've seen a clear trend toward edible gardens. Due to the lockdown, people have taken up gardening, even on balconies and terraces. Self-sufficiency, even if it's just local herbs and vegetables like ulam raja or chili peppers, has become a trend, even in a megacity like Singapore. 

Even now, people want to maintain this newfound connection to nature. Garden projects are more compact, the plants smaller – and, best of all, edible. In recent years, "Edible Garden City" has created almost 300 edible gardens throughout Singapore. In hospitals, day care centers for the elderly, schools, hotels, restaurants and private homes. 

A good example is the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay Hotel with its garden-within-a-hotel concept. The lobby impresses with a 13-metre-high vertical garden and a treetop bridge that leads over hundreds of trees. Twenty percent of the food required is grown on the hotel's own roof garden. The restaurant offers special farm-to-table dishes with ingredients from the hotel's own garden. 

Or the RISE herb garden at Marina Bay Sands. Edible gardens that are also accessible to tourists include the Sky Garden on the Capitaspring building, the highest rooftop garden farm in the world, and the Funan Rooftop Farm in a shopping center.

My personal favorites include the gardens in Jurong Lake District. They have a large edible garden and a spacious allotment that provides an opportunity to interact with other community gardeners. 

But anyone can grow an edible garden, regardless of their living space. Whether you live in a small apartment or in a room with little light, there are solutions.   

Bjorn Low is from Singapore and works for the socially oriented company Edible Garden City, which promotes urban agriculture and edible gardens. He owes his first name to his parents' enthusiasm for tennis: they were fans of tennis legend Björn Borg.