UWC2101D: Selves and Cities

Introducing Singapore

In Unit Three we will be considering some of the issues we have discussed thus far in the module in terms of Singapore itself. Your third essay, consequently, will involve researching some aspect of Singapore. To prepare we will be doing presentations. (For a detailed description of this assignment please consult the preparation page for the presentations.) Your presentation will be based on an essay or chapter from one of the following books. You are not obligated to write your paper on the text you present (though you may find that something in it interests you and gets you started researching). Please identify your top three choices for texts to present from the books below and bring them to the next class meeting. We will use your list of choices to help us determine who will present which essays. The books are available for browsing in the reading room or by loan from Central Library.

Political Legitimacy and Housing: Stakeholding in Singapore by Chua Beng Huat

1. Public-housing policies compared: United States, ex-socialist nations and Singapore
2. From city to nation: planning Singapore
3. Adjusting religious practices to different house-forms
4. A practicable concept of community in a high-rise housing environment
5. Public housing and political legitimacy
6. Nostalgia for the kampung

Portraits of Places: History, Community and Identity in Singapore edited by Brenda Yeoh and Lily Kong

1. The Meaning and Making of Place: Exploring History, Community and Identity
2. Conserving the Civic and Cultural District: State Policies and Public Opinion
3. Historic District, Contemporary Meanings: Urban Conservation and Creation and Consumption of Landscape Spectacle
4. The Singaporean Image of the Orchardscape
5. Place-Making: Collective Representations of of Social Life and the Built Environment in Tiong Bahru
6. Exploring Local Cultures: The Construction and Evolution of Meaning and Identity in Katong
7. The 'Expatriatisation' of Holland Village
8. Ang Mo Kio: The Makings of Place and Community in a New Town
9. Chong Pang Village: A Bygone Lifestyle
10. Last Days at Wak Selat: The Demise of a Kampung

Public Space: Design Use and Management edited by Chua Beng Huat and Norman Edwards

1. Public Space: Design, Use and Management
2. Street Culture in Colonial Singapore
3. The Colonial Suburb: Public Space as Private Space
4. Backlanes as Contested Regions: Construction and Control of Physical Space
5. Decoding the Political in Civic Spaces: An Interpretive Essay
6. The Social Significance of Public Spaces in Public Housing Estates
7. Duxton Plain--Perceptual Analysis of an Urban Space
8. Public Space in Private Development
9. The Potential for the Conservation of Nature in Singapore
10. Conversing the Natural Flora and Fauna in Singapore
11. Improving the Quality of Life in Singapore by Creating and Conserving Wildlife Habitats
12. Naturalistic Exhibits in Zoo Design