Tengah Is Singapore’s First Smart, Pedestrian-Friendly City

But Tengah’s merits go beyond the decision to remove vehicular traffic in favor of a more pedestrian and cyclist-free urban environment. For starters, it will only be car-free at the surface, because the traffic and parking and other road structures will be below ground. Secondly, it will be the first smart city and, hopefully, the blueprint for all future communities.

Tengah was first announced in 2016 and is currently under construction, with the first apartments set for turnkey delivery in 2023. It’s built by the state, so most of the 42,000 new homes will be available as long-term leases. It’s designed around the idea of bringing man and nature together again, in the hope that this would change behavioral patterns that would lead to a decrease in emissions.

Tengah is built on a 700-hectare (2.7-square-mile/7-square-km) area that once housed brickmaking factories, but that has since been overrun by wilderness. The Singapore Housing and Development Board (HDB) will be keeping some of that to create what has been dubbed the “forest city,” a five-district urban community packed with gardens, greenery, and wild trees. At the same time, this will be a smart city, from the air conditioning to garbage collection and monitoring every household’s emissions.

The idea was inspired by Singapore’s heightened emissions rate: despite the small number of residents, the island ranks higher than UK and China in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. The use of individual air conditioning units is a big part of the problem, so Tengah will solve this by using centralized air-con, with cold water chilled using solar power being piped through homes. According to the HBD, this switch will be the equivalent of taking some 4,500 cars off the road each year.

Traffic is also part of the problem, so Tengah will be flushed with trees and greenery and, most importantly, will have a car-free center. Additionally, all apartment complexes will have charging stations, encouraging a wider adoption of EVs, whether for personal cars or public transport.

“Tengah is a clean slate,” Chong Fook Loong, group director for research and planning at HDB, tells CNN in an interview. “We're going for the ideal concept of segregation of traffic, (with) everything underground and then the ground level totally freed up for pedestrians – for people. So, it's a very safe environment for all. We want a town that allows walking and cycling in a very user-friendly manner.”

But the HDB is making sure that Tengah is futureproof, as well. This is not a city that simply bans cars, but one that imagines and is prepared for a future in which all cars will be both electric and autonomous, Loong assures.

Elsewhere, technology will further assist in cutting down emissions. Individual housing units and apartment complexes will constantly relay data regarding emissions, so owners will be able to monitor and consequently adjust their daily consumption. Ideally, the HBD hopes, this will encourage friendly competitions between residents and different building associations to see who can cut down consumption.

Garbage collection will be automated and improved. Instead of having a truck traverse the city to collect garbage, it will first be collected at a single point via a pneumatic system that will “suck it out.” The truck can collect the waste from these chambers, and it will mean less road traffic and more hygienic conditions for everyone else. Public lighting will also be automated and adapt to existing conditions.

Tengah will encourage and promote biodiversity to further behavioral change. Encouraging a more natural way of life will serve the same purpose, as will the use of technology to help residents visualize their impact on the environment.

Clearly, this smart city will be an experiment, one that will hopefully show that an updated lifestyle can lead to change, which, in turn, can lessen the impact on the environment. If successful, Tengah will serve as a blueprint for the cities of tomorrow.