million Singaporeans, about eight times the population of
Washington, D.C., live on an area only four times larger. Singapore is
the third-densest country on earth. It is, as planners say, hyperdense.
Primatologist Michael Gumert, who teaches at Singapore’s Nanyang
Technological University, calls the city a human experiment. “It must
increase stress in ways we don’t fully understand,” he told me.
“We’re undergoing self-domestication,” said Gumert. Will Metro
sapiens evolve fast enough to adapt?
When I pictured Singapore, I thought of the ban on chewing gum
and public spitting, enforced by arcane punishment like caning.
Ridiculed globally for these policies, the city-state brings to mind
Nanny McPhee-meets-the-death penalty. But then I heard about
Singapore’s green walls, its lavish parks and vertical farming, how it
is sometimes considered the top “biophilic city” in the world. Flying
in, it’s immediately obvious that this is a verdant megalopolis, with
huge housing blocks interspersed with lush greenery. The roadway
from the airport is bordered by palm trees, flowering shrubs and a
spreading green canopy. This isn’t surprising in a tropical island, but
then I learned that this part of the city rests on reclaimed damaged
land. Massive deforestation had left the place barren of nutrients.
Every one of those trees and shrubs was planted, on imported soil.
Like an insecure diva, the city wants you to notice. My hotel and
many other buildings downtown looked like chia plants, every few
stories and sometimes entire walls sprouting cascading layers of
plants. “You can wake up and start grazing!” joked my cabdriver as
he dropped me off.
I thought a good place to start diving into the country’s nature
ethic might be the world-class, 155-year-old Singapore Botanic
Garden, which is large, open nineteen hours a day, and free. A new
UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s also the headquarters for the
country’s powerful national parks agency. I ducked out of a downpour
and into the administrative building, where I was met by bespectacled