THE GOOD NEWS is, the signs are that more of us are actually awaking to our surroundings, and in particular, the value of architecture and urban design in supporting a gracious, urbane existence – albeit the mad daily rush. After all, the design of our built environment has become the focus of copious coverage in the mass and professional media ever since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sparked the “X factor” debate in December 2004 while opening the URA exhibition “Shaping Singapore” by making reference to it. More recently, visions of Singapore as a “vibrant, global city” was a central feature of PM Lee’s National Day Rally speech, the traditional platform for the PM to chart the way forward for the nation.
This is therefore a very special time for the development of a Singaporean awareness of architectural and urban design. Though architecture has been “inescapable” for some time, one reason why PM Lee’s references to the quality of our built environment has triggered such a lively and continuing public debate is that it touches on Singapore’s economic survival. It is now clearer than ever before in Singapore’s 40 years of |
|
A street view of DBS Tower 1 |
| |
|
existence that its architecture and urban design excellence (AUDE), or lack of it, could mean the difference between becoming a celebrated global centre of commerce and culture or a festering backwater of unrealised urban dreams. All because global brains and business, and with them, the creation of new wellsprings of patronage, now tend to vote with their feet in a world shrunken by video conferencing, mobile telephony and a proliferation of airlines.
Certainly Singapore, while already a bastion of political stability, business transparency, and a place where “everything works”, cannot afford to rest on its laurels. The global proliferation of technology has already equipped neighbouring cities with modern airports, highways and communications infrastructure, narrowing or even erasing the lead that Singapore used to enjoy in the region.
Farther afield, cities exert themselves over the existing order of “global cities”, meaning New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and the like, to become self-styled architectural meccas. We are, of course, talking about Dubai, Shanghai, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Taipei and their like; capturing global headlines with yet another “world’s tallest building”, “world’s largest mall” and “world’s most expensive resort”. The heat
|
