Environment and Resources Management (ERM) students visit Singapore to explore nature conservation and urban sustainability

Students from the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Environment and Resources Management (ERM), armed with water bottles, umbrellas for both rain and tropical sun, alongside their Lecturer, Dr. Alastor Coleby, travelled to Singapore to visit sites of nature conservation and urban sustainability.

Starting the visit to the harbour, students were introduced to Singapore through the iconic Merlion, a symbol of the Lion City’s close relationship with the sea. After that first orientation, students crossed the colonial-era iron span bridge to the Asian Civilisations Museum, where they studied the history and diverse cultures that have shaped Singapore’s built and cultural environment, drawing on Chinese, Malay, and European traditions.

This field trip covered Singapore’s iconic places in many dimensions, such as urban heritage, natural ecology, technological governance, and public policies—reflecting the triple logic of space, society, and environment in Singapore. Building on this theme, students continued their learning by visiting the Chinatown Heritage Centre to examine the cultural heritage links between Hong Kong and Singapore, encouraging reflection on lessons that could be applied to the preservation of the Chinese diaspora’s intangible cultural heritage. In terms of the environment, wetland reserves, the Zoo, the Sustainable Singapore Gallery, and Gardens by the Bay illustrate how both active and passive protection are practiced safeguarding Singapore’s natural ecology.

ERM students then explored the tropical rainforest and mangroves of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, an area rich in biodiversity from which to make field notes and take photographs for their environmental reflections and reports. The important mangrove ecology gave the field party firsthand experience of wildlife that included wetland birds, mudskippers, jungle squirrels wrestling with coconuts, large monitor lizards on the prowl, and even elusive Siamese crocodiles. Afterwards a visit to the Singapore Zoo, students visited a diverse assemblage of Asian and African wildlife, tigers, white lions, wild dogs, rhinoceroses, reptiles and a wide range of birds normally only seen in documentaries, here with their habitats recreated for live study.

Returning to the built environment and urban sustainability, the group visited the Singapore City Gallery to reference how the city was being spatially planned and how the buildings and infrastructure continue to develop whilst continuing to preserve the city’s historical quarters. The Sustainable Singapore Gallery was also visited to study the various technologies and green building approaches used in Singapore broadly similar to Hong Kong’s Building Environmental Assessment Method to save energy and improve overall environmental performance across the city.

On the final day of the visit, the students went to the Singapore Housing & Development Board (HDB) Hub and the My Nice Home Gallery to understand the government’s approach to housing designs that accommodated everyone from single occupants and those with new families to multigenerational households with materials built from sustainable sources and sensitively designed into harmonious and prosperous societies using Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to public health.

This field trip to Singapore involved observing and analyzing four aspects—cultural heritage, natural ecology, sustainable development and modern horticulture, public housing and urban planning—to explain how Singapore has integrated sustainable development into its urban governance. All in all, Singapore's urban planning model is worth learning from. Urban development should balance various costs and find a sustainable development approach that is more resource-efficient. Reflecting on the trip, students, Ava Teng and Wendy Teng noted how these different sites helped them connect what they saw in the city with practical strategies for sustainability, governance, and community wellbeing.