Singapore real estate developer City Developments Limited (CDL) is expanding a mini reforestation project on its property, doubling a basketball court-sized “microforest” planted a year ago, with two other sites identified as part of an urban cooling initiative in the tropical city-state.
Working with botanists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and supported by the National Parks Board (NParks), CDL planted a 260 metre-squared microforest on the grounds of the City Square Mall in Little India in March 2025. Another microforest of 260 square metres is being developed on the same premises.
CDL’s chief sustainability officer Esther An said on Friday that two more microforests were in the pipeline. The locations have yet to be confirmed, but are likely to be in a mixed-used property and community space planted in the next 1 to 2 years.
“We’re not selling a product, we’re selling an idea,” An said at an event to mark the first year of the microforest, calling on other developers to embrace the concept.
CDL has positioned microforests as a scalable model for integrating greenery into urban infrastructure to support Singapore’s climate adaptation plan and “City in nature” vision.
The company has applied for public funding to scale-up the project through the SG Eco Fund, a S$50 million (US$39 million) fund that supports community environmental projects.
The brainchild of Japanese plant ecologist Akira Miyawaki, a microforest is a small, densely planted area of native vegetation designed to mimic the structure and function of a natural forest. They are created using a mix of species planted close together to promote rapid growth.
CDL’s announcement comes amid rising concern over extreme heat and high rates of local forest loss. Though Singapore has four gazetted nature reserves, the city is rapidly losing unprotected secondary forests to development, mostly for public housing.
Singapore has an ongoing reforestation initiative to compensate for lost forest known as the One Million Trees programme, but An noted that the scheme largely focuses on planting in more peripheral parts of the island, highlighting the need to introduce more microforests within the urban core, where heat stress potential is most acute.
Commenting on the size of microforests needed to effectively cool and harbour biodiversity, Veera Sekaran, director of the Regenerative Agritech Centre at NUS, who designed CDL’s microforest, said that they need to be a minimum of 150-200 square metres, and scaled for larger properties.
Studies have shown that forests that cover more than 10 hectares, can cool their surroundings by 1°C within 330 metres of the perimetre. But the cooling potential of a smaller forests is far less.
Before and after: The site at City Square Mall was mostly bushes and a few trees (left) before it was developed into a microforest (right), with 40-50 different species of mostly native plants. Images: Robin Hicks / Eco-Business
The dark green squiggle in the centre of the page is CDL’s microforest, which is sited at the entrance of City Square Mall. The mall is in a highly urbanised area vulnerable to extreme heat. Source: Googlemaps.com
On a satellite image map of Singapore, CDL’s microforest is barely visible. Most of the island has been urbanised, with the major remaining green areas in central and western areas. Source: Googlemaps.com
Cooling and biodiversity benefits
Data collected by NUS researchers over the last year shows that CDL’s microforest recorded temperatures of up to 5°C lower than surrounding roadside areas at midday. Areas within 1-2 metres of the forest edge were found to be between 1°C and 4°C cooler than nearby urban surfaces.
Acoustic monitoring from 1 February to 12 December 2025 detected higher bird call activity within the microforest, while environmental DNA sampling suggests approximately 70 per cent greater species richness compared to a nearby grass patch.
Thirty-one species of birds were observed, the most common being house crows, brown-throated sunbirds, and rock pigeons, with barn owls, peregine falcons, and oriental pied hornbills also recorded.
An oriental pied hornbill. Once extinct in Singapore, they are now relatively common. 15 were observed in CDL’s microforest between 1 February to 12 December 2025. Image: Robin Hicks / Eco-Business
Construction around the microforest may have influenced bird activity, particularly in the second half of 2025, when bioacoustic sensors recorded a decline in bird calls, noted Adrian Loo, deputy director of NUS’s Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions.
Researchers also identified bioindicator organisms such as millipedes and springtails, which signal high quality of leaf litter, soil structure, and humid microclimate.
To encourage public engagement with the microforest, CDL introduced a citizen science component via the iNaturalist platform. The initiative has recorded 65 observations across 46 species.
Eco-Business has visited the microforest on at least 10 occasions and not seen anyone walk through it. However, the adjacent “Eco-Train”, a repurposed, airconditioned subway carriage designed to educate children about microforests, has attracted 70,000 visitors since launching in March 2025, the company said.
