World Scientific Publishing Company Greening the Urban Habitat: A Quantitative and Empirical Approach

This book is a good reference book for city planners, architects and civil engineers involved in the conceptualisation, design and building of urban habitations, who aspire to increase the liveability of their cities. It introduces the Singapore Green Plot Ratio (GnPR) as an Urban Planning Metric to promote the widespread and intensive use of greenery for new and existing buildings in towns and cities like Singapore a former third world city that has transformed into one of the world's most liveable metropolises.Increasing urban greenery has been observed to enhance the quality of our built environment, and in turn, the quality of life of its inhabitants. The book shows readers how to do so using the GnPR, which it presents as an important urban complement of the leaf area ratio (LAI) concept, through an in-depth discussion of three key aspects of the GnPR. It proposes optimal levels of GnPR for various land-use types and how these levels are benchmarked against current levels of greenery provision; stipulates the greenery quantum which encourages the concentration of some plants, especially native trees and certain local species; and advocates the development of ecological or natural landscapes over manicured gardens. The book also discusses the impact of various levels of GnPR provision with the inevitable capital and maintenance costs of greening built environments, and how they affect the application of the GnPR guidelines. About the Author David Ho Kim Hin is Tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Real Estate, School of Design & Environment, National University of Singapore. He spent 30 years across several sectors, including the military, oil refining, aerospace engineering public housing, resettlement, land acquisition, reclamation and international real estate investing. Six years were in Pidemco Land Ltd (now CapitaLand Ltd) and GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd. 16 years were in the NUS School of Design and Environment at the Department of Real Estate. He holds the Master of Philosophy (First Class Honours with Distinction), the Doctor of Philosophy and the Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Cambridge. He has published 270 articles (inclusive of 85 articles in peer reviewed, international journals) pertaining to real estate investment, real estate development, urban policy, public policy consultancies, public cum private funded research projects and has also published six major books. He is a member of the Valuation Review Board under the Singapore Ministry of Finance and the Singapore Courts.]