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