Chapter 1

• A community is a group of people in a particular place who have the same sense of belonging in the place and as a group
• People depend on nature for essentials like air and water for humans to survive
• Living organisms like bees help to pollinate crops for a continuous supply of food
• Nature provides space for recreation and leisure activities which allows people to bond with their friends, helping to maintain humans' physical and mental well-being
• Nature depends on humans to enjoy the nature areas sustainably without causing irreversible damage to the environment
• Nature areas benefit people by lowering air temperatures in the presence of vegetation. It provides shade and reduces the amount of direct sunlight that reaches the surface. It also cools the surrounding air through evapotranspiration as the water that plants absorb through their roots is released to the air as water vapour. This process uses heat thus cooling the air temperature.
• Nature areas benefit people by removing the amount of pollutants. During photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide and other air pollutants and release oxygen. Wetland plants can trap suspended materials and absorb excess nutrients in the water thus improving water quality
• Nature areas benefit people by provision of recreational land. This allows for opportunities for outdoor activities and direct and frequent interactions with nature that can bring health and well- being benefits to people
• People can help raise awareness about the value of nature by encouraging positive behaviour that does not damage the environment
• People can host clean up programmes to remove pollutants from the environment and help restore habitats to provide healthy environment for species to thrive
• People bring disadvantages to nature by causing soil erosion and damaging vegetation. when people hike along non- designated trails, they may cause soil compaction which prevents rainwater from infiltrating the surface. They will also trample on vegetation, damaging plants and affecting their growth.
• people being disadvantages to nature by worsening pollution and disturbing wildlife. Some animals may mistake litter as food and consume them causing the animal to get hurt and suffer which may lead to death.
• Sense of place is developed when people associate meaning and memories with locations. (whether good or bad). it helps to build our identity, enabling us to understand ourselves and others better
• sense of place can be represents through different form and types of media such as text, audio, pictures, videos, newspaper, broadcast media and internet- based media
• Different emotions expressed in the media enhances or contradicts our sense of places causing how we respond to different areas.
• Regions are areas with similar physical and human characteristics, they vary in size. They can be the shpere of influence of service, events and objects on other locations
• Spatial patterns reflect non- random arrangements that are recognisable as shapes, clusters, geometry or repeated occurrences at regular intervals. (E.g. Geometry -> circle line, Clusters -> many heavy industry companies located in an area, Regular interval -> public bus stops)
• Spatial associations refer to the tendency of a pair or services, events and objects to be located near each other.
• spatial scales refer to the extent of an area in which a phenomennon or process takes place. It helps us understand how events and processes at one spatical scale may affect people and nature at other spatial scales.
• the different types of scale are global, regional and local
• nested areas are smaller areas located within larger areas
• There are spatial hierarchies in Singapore such as residential units, precinct, neighbourhood and town
• Precincts and formed by many residential units. there are often facilities within close proximity serving residents' everyday needs.
• Town planning in Singapore serves residents and provides for nature at distinct levels of the precinct, neighbourhood and town and creates connections and synergies across precincts, neighbourhoods and towns.
• Ecosystem is a geographic area where living communities and non-living environments interact with each other to form a bubble of life. They vary in size. Activities carried out by people may directly or indirectly affect the ecosystem both positively and negatively
• Ecosystem services refers to the benefits brought by nature to people. Some services are provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services, and supporting services
• Provisioning ecosystem services refer to the tangible resources that people can get from ecosystems such as food, water and wood. They can also be found in urban neighbourhood ecosystems
• Regulating services refer to the benefits obtained from the regulation of various ecosystem processes. (E.g. regulating the local climate, water flow and air quality)
• Cultural services refer to the intangible benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including aesthetic experiences, educational opportunities and recreational activities.
• Supporting services refer to services that are necessary for the functioning of all other ecosystem services, including soil formation, pollination and photosynthesis.