Singapore, Republic of Singapore
The one-north district in Singapore represents one of the world’s most advanced real-world laboratories for research-driven, climate-responsive urbanism in high-density environments.
Developed over two decades as a 200-hectare innovation district, one-north integrates employment, housing, public space, research infrastructure, and green systems into a compact urban ecosystem designed to test how dense cities can remain liveable, resilient, and environmentally positive.
Dense and Green Urban Development: Singapore by Singapore University of Technology and Design, won a 2026 Green Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies.
What distinguishes One-North is not only its design ambition but the depth of scientific and spatial research used to analyse, calibrate, and validate its performance.
The district has been systematically studied across five interlinked dimensions—microclimate, ecology, mobility, urban morphology, and socio-spatial connectivity—allowing planners and designers to move beyond intuition toward evidence-based urban development.
Environmental modelling and on-site measurements show that One-North achieves measurably better outdoor thermal comfort than conventional high-density districts.
Climate simulations indicate higher wind speeds, lower air temperatures, and more favourable physiological equivalent temperature (PET) values, particularly in Biopolis and Fusionopolis.
These outcomes are directly linked to the district’s morphology, green-blue infrastructure, and building massing, which were deliberately shaped to channel winds, provide shade, and reduce heat accumulation.
At the ecological scale, One-North functions as a networked landscape rather than isolated green pockets.
Ecological network analysis models parks, planted streets, rooftop greenery, and forest patches as biodiversity nodes connected by corridors and stepping stones, supporting species movement and habitat continuity in line with Singapore’s “City in Nature” vision.
From a human-scale perspective, spatial-visual and network analyses show exceptionally high pedestrian connectivity and walkability.
Narrow streets, shaded sidewalks, elevated linkways, and frequent through-block connections support active mobility, informal social interaction, and everyday urban life.
Space-syntax modelling confirms accessibility is significantly higher than in adjacent control areas, showing that compactness and liveability can reinforce each other when guided by evidence-based design.
Crucially, this research has translated into planning and governance practice. One-North has informed initiatives such as LUSH, URBEX ePlanner, and district-level sustainability guidelines.
Microclimate datasets, ecological connectivity models, and spatial-performance metrics are now used by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, National Parks Board, and partner agencies to evaluate and optimise environmental performance.
Together, one-north demonstrates how high-density urban development can be climate-adaptive, biodiversity-supporting, and socially vibrant when guided by rigorous research and digital-twin-enabled planning—providing a replicable model for cities seeking to reconcile growth with planetary limits.
Project: Dense and Green Urban Development: Singapore
Architects: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Lead Architect: Thomas Schroepfer
Design Team: Srilalitha Gopalakrishnan, Ivan Beliaev, Chloe Tongchaoran Goa, Irina Orlenko, Junyao Ren, Anjanaa Devi Srikanth, Daniel Wong Kin Heng, Leon Xu Lei, and Ruby Zhang Xuan
Client: National Research Foundation Singapore
Photographers: Leon Xu Lei
