3.2
How Urban Planning Can Aid Urban Farming In addition to beefing up food security, Singapore has planned for other green initiatives for the coming decades. These efforts share the same goal of safeguarding Singapore from environmental issues in the coming decades. Some important trends are the rise of car-lite policies, which encourage alternative forms of transport and reduce the strain on road infrastructure. Featured in the Land Transport Masterplan 2040, Singapore cannot afford to build more roads, which already occupy 12% of the island, and aims to transition the country away from private cars, and instead encouraging individuals to cycle, or take public transport. The country has already conducted campaigns such as “Car-Free Sundays”, where people can enjoy the street space without congestion and emissions.10 Future public housing precincts have also been planned to be car-lite, with reduced road network and parking provisions.
This is coupled with the idea of the 45-minute city, 20-minute town, another initiative shared from the Land Transport Masterplan 2040. It aims to improve accessibility to amenities and reduce travel times by 15 minutes each weekday by increasing public transport connections and utilisation.11 Like the car-lite initiatives, this too aims to reduce private car ownership and ease road congestion. Additionally, the global COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments around the work to implement workfrom-home and study-from-home policies, in efforts to reduce the spread of disease. This resulted in the decentralisation of the office and individuals spending more time within the neighbourhood. All these measure aim to reduce traveling, especially via private cars. With fewer cars, Singapore can afford to allocate less space for road infrastructure. Fewer cars mean fewer parking spaces needed, which can be repurposed for other needs.
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