COOL IT DOWN - Tackling urban heat island effect in Singapore

Abstract: This master thesis aims to propose sustainable solutions to influence the microclimate, tackle the urban heat island effect and provide a climate-sensitive design for Marina Bay in Singapore. During the site visit and research, the main challenges for Downtown Singapore were identified. The most threatening ones included increasing temperature and the heat island effect. The design principles consist of the use of the wind, vegetation and shading as main tools to tackle the challenge. The design site is a part of the Marina Bay area which is planned to be the main node of the city. Because of identified challenges, it is extremely important to open a climate oriented debate on how future development will look like. Hence, my research questions became: How can design attract people to use the outdoor public space and tackle the urban heat island effect and unfavourable tropical climate? Proposed guidelines and typologies will be presented as a toolbox and will base on the analysis of the microclimate in Singapore. The toolbox provides solutions in three scales: large, medium and small. The solutions from the toolbox will be applied in the Singapore context to tackle the urban heat island effect and enable the citizens to use the city public spaces during the daytime. The proposal suggests a dense structure to meet the economic needs but also emphasizes the importance of basic human needs which are accurate heat comfort and the presence of biodiversity.