Singapore Named World’s Greenest City

Visitors may associate Singapore more with skyscrapers and megamalls, but a new study gives the city the top spot among 17 cities around the world for urban tree density.

The study showed trees and vegetation cover almost 30 percent of the populous city-state, more than 4 percent over second-place cities Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Those two both have 25.9 percent coverage.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the World Economic Forum completed the study, and relied on Google Street View data.

Of the 17 cities, Paris has the fewest trees, with just 8.8 percent of its urban area covered.

“The green canopy is an important and integral part of urban life. Trees help mitigate extreme temperatures, provide a natural respite from traffic, noise and congestion, and improve the quality of life for those living in urban environments,” says Treepedia, which hosted the findings of the study on its website.

Singapore’s parks like the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, the Botanic Gardens and the newer Gardens by the Bay super park, home to around 400,000 plants, certainly helped it earn the top spot. The city also has a high number of rooftop gardens and greenery incorporated into building facades.