Green placemaking—designing parks, gardens and shared spaces with nature and people in mind—can nurture local attachment and care. How can participatory design and community programs related to green placemaking spark lasting stewardship in Singapore’s dense, land-scarce neighbourhoods?The Benefits of Place AttachmentUrban planning experts argue that thoughtfully integrating nature into neighbourhoods helps people feel rooted to their communities. Studies show that when a development is built around greenery, “permanent places are cultivated through green planning and place-making”. In other words, having parks and trees nearby helps people form a lasting bond with their residential community. Living close to nature also brings tangible benefits: psychologists have found that residents enjoy mental and physical health gains simply from everyday contact with vegetation. Findings suggest that even in high-density cities, good park design can go beyond aesthetics. By creating inviting shared spaces, like paths shaded by trees, or gardens designed for play and relaxation, planners can encourage neighbours to linger and invest in the place. When people enjoy nature’s presence daily, they begin to care more. As multiple Australian studies note, carefully planned green suburbs not only draw people in with an ideal of sustainable living but also give them a stake in maintaining that vision.Trees and vegetation planted around residential areas in Canberra, AustraliaPhoto credit: Yeong YuSingapore’s Green Vision as a City in NatureSingapore is already woven with parks, parkways and green corridors. Decades of planting mean we now have a thriving network of green spaces where nature is part of our urban environment and in close proximity to Singaporeans’ lives. This city-wide commitment reflects our constraint: unlike countries with vast amounts of land, Singapore has only one home island. Planners stress that every hectare of green must count. As URA notes, we have limited land, so it is vital that our urban fabric supports ecological connections between residential areas, parks and nature. The government’s strategy goes beyond investing in green infrastructure; it explicitly calls for citizens to care for it. The URA affirms that the active stewardship of our natural capital can ensure that biodiversity thrives and that parks continue delivering benefits like cleaner air and cooler streets. In practice, this means Singapore is busy planting trees, connecting gardens to reservoirs, and even naturalising canals into rivers. Projects like Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Jurong Lake Gardens have transformed grey infrastructure into green habitats, improving flood resilience. By 2030, Singapore’s goal is to have 300km of green corridors, so every household is within a ten-minute walk from a park. In short, the country’s leadership believes that urban nature can and should touch everyone’s life. Participatory Planning and OwnershipRather than just building parks and hoping people care for the greenery around them, government agencies now invite residents to join such efforts. NParks advertises community gardening as a national service: since 2005, its Community in Bloom Program actively engenders a gardening culture and a greater sense of civic ownership and community stewardship through island-wide volunteer-run community gardens. Today, more than 2,000 community garden plots engage tens of thousands of people across the country. These green spaces have also become social hubs where families plant herbs and neighbours swap gardening tips. In effect, residents become the gardeners and guardians of their local green, strengthening social bonds and fostering long-term care for the environment.Beyond these gardening clubs, Singapore is also experimenting with co-creating public parks. In recent years, NParks expanded its Friends of the Parks initiative to involve communities at every stage, including conceptual design and construction and management. The aim of implementing these participatory frameworks is to build a sense of ownership by giving communities a stronger say in the making of their living environment. Under this scheme, neighbourhood volunteers and official planners work side-by-side to plan and action dozens of parks over a multi-year timeframe. Through such processes, residents might suggest playground features or native plants during consultation sessions, then help look after the finished park. By becoming co-creators in the facilities they then use, people develop personal investment in these projects: the park becomes our park.These examples illustrate a subtle form of soft power or governmentality: by empowering people to help govern their own spaces, the state gently instils stewardship values in citizens. Residents begin to regulate themselves through planting responsibly, picking up litter, looking after shared gardens because they feel they own the space. This aligns with Singapore’s broader goal of a “whole-of-nation” green movement: NParks connects community programs to the national Green Plan, highlighting that everyday gardeners and park users are too part of Singapore’s sustainability strategy.Cultivating an Inclusive Stewardship CultureDesigning parks and inviting participation are only part of the story. To truly ingrain values of stewardship in residents, green spaces must be welcoming and inclusive. Accessibility and programming matter: a beautiful lawn does little good if people feel unwelcome or are too busy to visit. Here, thoughtful placemaking and events can make a difference. For example, Singapore is expanding therapeutic gardens and nature-play areas, recognising that such green spaces should serve all—from children to the elderly. Over 30 therapeutic gardens are planned by 2030 to help people with conditions like dementia connect with nature. These inclusive features send the important message that nature is for everyone, not just the athletic or affluent.Equally important is maintaining programming that keeps people engaged. Regular activities like community planting days, guided walks or park clean-ups turn everyday parks into active communities. The Community in Bloom and Friends of the Park programmes do exactly this: they turn gardening into social events and create ambassador schemes to train local green leaders. Over time, these efforts produce neighbourhood stewards: residents who know the local flora, organise the next community planting session, or teach kids to bird-watch. In short, stewardship leadership often emerges from the ground up.In land-scarce Singapore, parks are always carefully planned, but softer influences can also make their mark in a community. For instance, urban planners and community leaders can share stories of neighbourhood efforts online or in local media. Narratives about volunteers reviving a pond or students replanting trees reinforce the idea that caring for nature is a civic duty. By combining top-down support with grassroots stories, a richer environmental culture is nurtured in local communities. Towards Greener Suburbs and Stronger StewardshipSingapore’s experience suggests that green placemaking can build stewardship—but only if done in a participatory, inclusive way. Well-designed parks and greenery provide the setting, but resident engagement provides the commitment. When people have a role in planning or programming, they feel ownership. When spaces meet diverse needs, they invite everyone in. When citizens see stewardship in action (through community gardens or nature hobby groups), environmental care becomes part of a community’s social fabric.The emerging lesson is clear: suburbs thrive on the pride and persistence of their people. By blending visionary policies (Singapore as a City in Nature) with genuine citizen partnerships, Singapore is crafting a stewardship culture in even its densest neighbourhoods.