NOT all Singaporeans are city slickers.

Judging from the feedback that 4,224 people gave on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) ideas for future land-use plans, they crave nature and adventure.

For instance, rough-it-out campsites, quarry boating and nature trails were the public's top three picks.

URA chief executive officer Tan Yong Soon said: 'The public's overwhelming response is fantastic. It shows that people care about Singapore's green spaces.'

The people were giving their two cents' worth on the URA's Parks and Waterbodies plan which aims to add more greenery to Singapore, and its Identity plan to preserve certain neighbourhoods.

In the four months since the plans were launched on July 23 and shown to the public in an exhibition, 97 per cent of the 4,200 people who provided feedback liked the ideas in general and many of them supported the back-to-nature approach.

Turn Coney Island into a camping area with basic amenities? Yes, said 89 per cent. Build lodges purely for nature appreciation near the Bukit Timah Hill? Yes, said 62 per cent.

Nature Society member Ho Hua Chew was surprised at the number of people who provided feedback on the plans. Said the chairman of the society's conservation committee: 'More people are seeing the urgency of the situation, that green areas are shrinking.

'It's a very good sign that interest is at a new level, where people are speaking up to support nature.'

He was heartened during the exhibition on the two plans when, among the 35,000 who visited The URA Centre at Maxwell Road, he saw groups of people who discussed the ideas and drafted letters to the URA on the spot.

The URA will decide before January how much of the feedback it will incorporate in its new draft masterplan for future land use.