5 Things I Will Miss About Singapore

Considering that I am now into my last couple of weeks in Singapore, I thought I should do a post on the things that I have grown to love during my year here and things that I will take with me once I leave.

1) Food

If you ask a Singaporean what they are most proud of about their country, it is food. Hawker centres (food courts which can be found on almost every street corner) are where most people eat. There are stalls serving a variety of food, demonstrating the country’s mixing pot of cultures, with the added bonus of all dishes usually costing no more than £3! As families tend to eat out here rather than in their homes, these hawkers centres are communal hubs and help in bringing people together in an environment which could have been socially isolating. The worry is that this distinctly Singaporean institution will disappear in the new future since the sons and daughters of current stalls holder have mostly received good educations and have different aspirations.

Hawker Centre in Tiong Bahru, Singapore

2) Travel opportunities

I have been lucky enough this year to have visited many wonderful places in the region such as Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines. The cheap transport (especially in Malaysia) has meant that I have been able to take advantage of any free time I have to get to know the areas around Singapore much better and as a result, I’ve had experiences that I will never forget. Without visiting the region, some may be inclined to think of the Southeast Asia as one homogenous region. My travels have shown me this is very wrong as I have seen a variety of different cultures and (certainly in comparison to Singapore) huge disparities in ways of living, living conditions and prosperity. Although arguably Singapore has no more travel opportunities than anywhere else, the exchange environment that I have been living in has definitely been conducive to exploring as much as possible.

Photos from my travels (Left, Philippines; Top Right, Mt Kinabalu, Boreo; Bottom Right, Bagan, Myanmar)

3) NUS

Undoubtedly I will miss the university. They made my move very smooth considering how daunting the experience could have been. The Geography department itself has opened my eyes up to a completely different perspective which I hope will benefit me when I return to my final year at UCL (see some of my earlier posts). The students have also been extremely friendly and welcoming, always wanting to tell me about the best places to go in the city. If I was to change one thing about my experience, it would be where I live. In terms of amenities, I cannot complain about the residential sites on campus. However, living on campus has meant that I perhaps have not experienced what it is truly like to live in Singapore, as university campuses can be artificial environments. On the plus side, this has given me the incentive to return to Singapore as a worker when I’m older so that I can really immerse myself in the city.

4) Urban Geography

This isn’t technically something I will miss about Singapore and more something that I have learnt. Having done one urban geography module at UCL, I already had an inclination that this might be the section of geography that I enjoy the most, and this year has confirmed this. ‘Globalization in Asian Cities’, ‘Changing Landscapes of Singapore’ and ‘Cities and Regions: Planning for Change’ have introduced me to new concepts in urban geography that relate in particular to the Asian region. Because Singapore is effectively just a city, I have been able to witness the vital importance that the state puts on urban planning, more so than I have seen anywhere else.

5) The people

Finally, I will miss the wonderful people I have met. People from far and wide have joined me on adventures and have we comforted each other during the times when the distance from home began to sink in. I have them to thank for making this year an experience that will stay with me forever.

Group of friends in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Changi as a 'Non-Place'

My year abroad journey began in Changi Airport and that is where it will end in a couple of weeks’ time- and it is certainly a nice place for a journey to begin! It consistently tops the rankings of the best airports in the world boasting amenities such as a cinema, butterfly and cactus garden, swimming pools, foot-massaging machines, the list goes on. For first time visitors, it is a good indication of what they should expect from the city as a whole- clean, efficient, offering everything you could possibly think of.

In these respects, it does work as an example of what Augé has referred to as a ‘non-place’. It is a super-modern, utopian environment. However, according Augé, people do not stay there long enough for it to be a site of social relations that would allow for it be considered a ‘place’. For some, place ‘to be a place, necessarily has meaning’ (Henderson, 2009a).  So from this perspective, even though Changi airport may not hold historical meaning, the airport allows me to live a ‘meaning-filled life’ (Henderson, 2009b). It is a place that incites excitement when I enter it (the anticipation of new adventures) and will be a place of sadness when I leave. However, for others, it will hold different memories and for this reason, ‘non-place’ does not seem like an appropriate term. It should be noted that the area of Changi does hold significant historical importance as it was the site of a prisoner of war camp during WWII and so those with a connection to its pas, may associate multiple meanings, emotions and identities with the general name ‘Changi’ which may be conflicting. Finally, Massey sees place as ‘not constituted by what is internal to it, but by its distinct lines of connection to other parts of the world’ (Henderson, 2009a) and who can deny that airports have some of the best global connections in the world!

References

Augé, M. (1995) Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, London: Verso

Henderson, G. (2009a) ‘Place’ in D. Gregory et al. (eds) The Dictionary of Human Geography, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pg. 539-541

Henderson, G. (2009b) ‘Placelessness’ in D. Gregory et al. (eds) The Dictionary of Human Geography, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pg. 542

Streets of Singapore: Safe or Sterile?

As I have mentioned before in this blog, as have many others along the way, Singapore has unfortunately built up a reputation for being clinical. It is famed for its ‘no chewing gum’ law, it has strict laws on public drinking and vandalism, not to mention its anti-homosexual laws. Considering that it wants to attract the ‘creative class’ this is somewhat surprising. Creative cities are places of technology, talent and tolerance which together allow for an environment that breeds creativity (Pratt, 2008). There is a certain ‘rawness’ and ‘coolness’ that attracts a particular type of person. While Singapore certainly has technology and talent, tolerance is more debatable. Are clinical and creative mutually exclusive?

I want to argue that the factors that are often cited as making Singapore feel clinical, also make it an incredibly safe city in which to live. In the Urban Geography module I took in UCL, one piece of work in particular really stuck with me. This was Jane Jacob’s ‘The Uses of Sidewalks’. In this she talks about how, rather than strangers making a street feel unsafe, they are necessary for a city to feel safe.

London, while undoubtedly a centre for creativity and a vibrant place to live, is also somewhere that I personally would not feel very safe going for a run after dark. Some will disagree but this is my personal opinion and experience. Conversely, in Singapore, I am able to go for a run well after dark, I feel safe coming home on my own after dark, etc.

Prohibitive signs can be seen all around Singapore (source)

‘the bedrock attribute of a successful city district is that a person must feel personally safe and secure on the street among all these strangers’. (Jacobs, 1961, 10)

Although Singapore also has strangers of course, there is something about its streets that feel less menacing. Jane Jacob’s says that it is the public on the streets that voluntarily police the streets and in Singapore, people are happy to be on the streets in the first place because they are pleasant places to be, arguably thanks to the laws. It is also helped by the abundant open-front food centres and void decks at the bottom of apartment blocks which allow for many ‘eyes upon the street’. So while the strict laws may be part of the reason, I do not believe they are completely responsible for the safety on the streets of Singapore. And although these laws may make the city less raw and creativity-inducing, I also believe that cities need to feel safe in order to attract the ‘creative class’.


References
Jacobs, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York: Random House

Pratt, A. (2008) 'Creative Cities: The Cultural Industries and the Creative Class', Geografiska Annaler, 90, 2, 107-117