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Cities can add greenery where land is scarce by integrating plants into roofs, façades, terraces and other parts of buildings. Singapore shows how these “vertical landscapes” can support heat mitigation, stormwater management, biodiversity and shared outdoor space—but they work best as one part of a wider network of parks and connected habitats, not as a replacement for nature on the ground.
What counts as a vertical landscape?
Vertical landscapes are planted spaces incorporated into buildings and elevated urban areas. They include green walls, roof gardens, planter boxes and communal sky terraces. The term describes a range of designs rather than one standard system: a planted roof, a façade covered with vegetation and a shared terrace each occupy a different place and can serve different purposes.
In Singapore, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises programme, or LUSH, addresses greenery displaced by new development. It requires new developments to replace that greenery with a combination of on-ground and sky-rise greenery. URA identifies sky terraces, roof gardens, planter boxes and green walls as examples. Its guidance also points to higher greenery-replacement provisions, Southeast Asian native species and multi-tier planting as good practices. URA’s LUSH guidance
These installations are not interchangeable with parks, nature reserves or ecological corridors. They add greenery to built sites, while citywide planning must also consider habitat protection, connections between natural areas and access to ground-level public space.
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How Singapore combines building greenery with citywide nature
Singapore’s building policies sit within a broader green network. The Urban Redevelopment Authority reports approximately 7,800 hectares safeguarded for nature reserves, nature areas, nature parks and other green spaces. Since 2021, 130 hectares of new parks have been added. The Park Connector Network totals 391 kilometres, including 75 kilometres for the Round Island Route. URA also says more than 25 new parks and over 50 kilometres of additional park connectors are planned by 2030. These figures describe the wider green network, not vertical greenery alone. URA Greenery & Heritage, updated 10 September 2026
Singapore’s Ecological Profiling Exercise helps identify biodiversity areas, buffers and ecological connections so planners can account for nature in land-use plans. URA also acknowledges that greenfield development may still be considered to meet land needs after trade-offs and alternatives are studied. The implication is important: greener buildings can contribute to a nature strategy, but they do not remove the need to make difficult decisions about land and habitat.
What the LUSH totals do—and do not—mean
URA reports that LUSH has contributed over 440 hectares of greenery islandwide, and more than 100,000 square metres of greenery to developments in the Central Area since the programme began. The islandwide figure is reported as of December 2024. These are programme-wide greenery totals; they should not be read as measurements of façade planting alone. URA, “A City in Nature,” 4 June 2026
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What green roofs and walls can do
URA associates skyrise greenery with several potential functions. The value of a particular installation depends on its design, location and management; an attractive planted surface alone does not establish that it has delivered each benefit.
- Help manage heat: URA says rooftop greenery can lower building temperatures and thereby reduce the energy needed for cooling. It also lists urban heat mitigation as a potential function of skyrise greenery. The official material does not give a universal savings figure for all buildings, climates, orientations or systems.
- Manage stormwater: Planted roofs and other greenery can form part of a site’s approach to stormwater management, as identified in URA’s LUSH guidance.
- Support biodiversity: Planting can contribute to biodiversity, particularly when design considers native species, planting layers and links to wider habitats. The presence or area of greenery by itself does not prove an ecological gain.
- Create shared space: Sky terraces and roof gardens can provide communal outdoor areas in dense developments.
Architect Wong Mun Summ, co-founder of WOHA Architects, told URA: “Beyond just reducing our energy consumption, we have learnt that integrating greenery within our buildings has a much bigger impact in creating better microclimates within our buildings and reducing the overall urban heat island effect than we imagine.” This is a practitioner’s reflection, not a quantified performance result. URA, “A City in Nature,” 4 June 2026
How existing buildings can add skyrise greenery
Singapore’s rules for new development and its incentive for existing buildings address different situations. NParks’ Skyrise Greenery Incentive Scheme (SGIS) co-funds eligible new rooftop and vertical greenery projects on existing buildings. Under the terms on NParks’ page, successful applicants may receive up to 50% of installation costs, capped at $200 per square metre of planted area for rooftop greenery and $500 per square metre of green coverage for vertical greenery. The scheme is first-come, first-served and subject to available funds. These Singapore-specific terms were listed on a page last updated 24 August 2026; check NParks’ current eligibility and conditions before relying on them. NParks Skyrise Greenery Incentive Scheme
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- VIBRANT & ROOT-SAFE: PATENTED SOIL BOARDS - Our vertical garden design features specialized airflow gaps and a patented soil-holding board that prevents root rot. This breathable system ensures your indoor or outdoor herbs stay lush, green, and healthy from the top tier to the bottom.
Co-funding is conditional, so an owner or project team needs to establish eligibility and understand the scheme’s requirements rather than assume a project will qualify. More broadly, any building installation needs a plan for ongoing care: who will maintain the plants, manage safe operations and monitor whether the project is meeting its goals?
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to assess a vertical greenery proposal
A sound assessment starts with the project’s purpose, not just how much planted surface appears in a rendering. For a building owner, designer or planning team, useful questions include:
- Where will the greenery go? A roof garden, green wall, planter boxes and a sky terrace have different spatial roles.
- What outcome is intended? Clarify whether the priority is heat, stormwater, biodiversity, amenity or a combination.
- How is the planting designed ecologically? Consider native species, multiple planting layers and connections to nearby habitats, not only visual coverage.
- Who is responsible over time? Identify funding, maintenance, safe operations and monitoring arrangements.
- How will results be demonstrated? Use measured building or ecological performance where available. Do not infer energy savings or biodiversity gains from photographs or planted area alone.
Singapore’s biodiversity assessment framework offers one example of the emphasis on evaluation. NParks’ Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity is a city self-assessment tool with 28 indicators, each scored from 0 to 4, for a maximum of 112 points. It covers native biodiversity, ecosystem services, and biodiversity governance and management. The index is designed to help cities monitor progress against their own baselines, rather than provide a direct score for an individual green wall or roof. Its handbook is dated September 2021. NParks, Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity
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NParks’ City in Nature Research Programme identifies continued work on climate resilience, ecological resilience and social resilience. Its themes include biodiversity monitoring, safe and multifunctional greenery, human-nature relationships, and nature-based adaptation to heat and inland flooding. That agenda reflects a practical point for projects: measurement and management matter because visual greenness is not, by itself, proof of performance. NParks City in Nature Research Programme
How vertical greenery relates to green-building targets
Singapore’s Green Building Masterplan sets “80-80-80 in 2030” targets: 80% of buildings green by 2030; 80% of new developments by gross floor area to be Super Low Energy buildings from 2030; and an 80% improvement in energy efficiency over 2005 for best-in-class green buildings by 2030. BCA reported progress of 66%, 33% and 72%, respectively, as of December 2025. These are broader green-building and energy objectives, not measurements of vertical greenery’s independent performance. Building and Construction Authority, Green Building Masterplan, updated 1 September 2026
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