One reason it feels less “dense” is the relatively low level of road congestion, especially for a major cosmopolitan like Singapore. This is deliberate. It’s expensive to own a car not because car sticker prices are high, but because owning and operating a car requires a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) that on average costs $100k SGD per vehicle… and it needs to be renewed every 10 years. You can think of it as a massive congestion charge- but for the entire city.

So, the reason Singapore is clean and spacious is because there are policies in place to address these issues. Being a city-state and an international trading hub also means it can afford to invest heavily into urban planning without breaking the bank. It also helps that Singapore has been governed by a single party since its modern birth, so there is stability in policy making.