The ‘Other’ Garden City: Documenting Singapore’s Edible Gardening Heritage

Spanning approximately two hundred years of Singapore’s modern history, this study will draw upon a wide array of textual and non-textual historical and contemporary sources to document gardening in Singapore from the 19th century to the present day. Modern Singapore is internationally renowned as a ‘Garden City’. Firmly entrenched in the official narrative as a linchpin of its national and global identities, the imagery of a verdant city-state serves as a reflection of Singapore’s economic prosperity along with the success of its governance model. Though largely attributable to the state-led greening campaign initiated in 1967 by Lee Kuan Yew, public parks, formal gardens, and roadside trees do not constitute the entirety of Singapore’s rich gardening heritage as a ‘Garden City’. Indeed, according to a survey conducted by the National Parks Board, approximately one in two respondents cultivate plants at home. Found in a wide range of residential and public settings, edible vernacular gardens are tightly interwoven into the fabric of everyday life as stylistically informal small-scale green spaces, cultivated by individuals and communities.

This study will identify the ways in which historical gardening practices in Singapore have been continued, reinforced, and transformed into the contemporary period through building a body of new research and knowledge. In doing so, our proposed study will initiate a first step towards the inclusion of vernacular gardening practices as part of Singapore’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory, in line with the 2018 SG Heritage plan and, catalyze the writing of a new environmental history of Singapore, one which places ordinary people and practices in the foreground.