SINGAPORE spot green shoots in a financial capital
As one of the world’s richest nations and a capital of global
finance, Singapore has been awash in green for decades. But lately the
densely populated city-state is burnishing its credentials as another
type of green center — the ecological kind. A study released in 2011 by
The Economist magazine’s Intelligence Unit and Siemens ranked Singapore
as the greenest city in Asia, and this year the metropolis of glass and
steel inaugurates two vast nature projects guaranteed to boost the green
quotient further and to enhance the city’s image as a destination for
environmental tourism. Gardens by the Bay,
an ambitious 250-acre nature reserve, won the building-of-the-year
prize at the World Architecture Festival for its glassy, hill-like main
building, which houses attractions like the Flower Dome and Cloud
Forest. Not to be outdone, the new Marine Life Park
is already touting itself as “the world’s largest oceanarium.” It
features a huge water park with rides and an aquarium showcasing some
800 species of underwater life.