Outdoor Recreation in High-rise Singapore (en Inglés) - Belinda Yuen

This book highlights the ways in which the allocation of, access to, and use of outdoor recreation space shapes the dynamics of residents’ everyday life practices, user satisfaction and person-environment fit in Singapore’s high-rise, high-density, tropical urban environment. The focus is on residents’ perception, use and lived experience of outdoor recreation spaces in daily life, linking conceptual insights to empirically rigorous analyses with implications and recommendations for policy and practice. Drawing on global case studies and empirical research in Singapore, this book presents findings from the first interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research on outdoor recreation space utilisation in Singapore. 

Singapore, the most liveable city in Asia and the world’s sixth blue zone that was once a city of slums, presents a compelling case study for cities. Since 1960, Singapore has been building tall residential buildings to house its growing population. The present tallest private residential building is 70-storey while the tallest public housing is 50-storey. Public housing is planned and provided with a range of outdoor recreation spaces, integrating greenery and blue spaces to bring nature and recreational opportunities closer to residents’ homes. Over 80% of Singapore’s 4 million resident population live in public housing. 

Despite recognised benefits for health, climate change and sustainable development, there is limited study on outdoor recreation space in high-rise, high-density Asian cities, even in more developed cities like Singapore. This book contributes to closing this knowledge gap.