Space to Imagine: Singapore’s Playgrounds

Playgrounds don’t often find their way into urban planning studies, but recently a set of “old school” playgrounds in Singapore has become quite popular, inspiring works of  art, a digital book, design products, and more importantly a conversation about how these spaces allow children and adults to image.   Unlike other spaces in a city, playgrounds are specifically designed for children, yet as one landscape architect friend recently noticed, they are often enjoyed by all age groups.  If we really pay attention to the use of a playground we will see adults and children alike using these spaces.

As a child of a somewhat wooded suburb, playgrounds to me were only associated with school.  But as I grew older I recall retreating to the playgrounds in our downtown parks as I hung out with friends.  Although there was plenty of other “urban furniture” designed for teenagers and adults, the empty swings were just much more alluring than the benches facing the playground.  I’m not quite sure what it is that draws us to playgrounds but I have to believe that sense of delight from swinging does not diminish with age (as the upper age limits on most playgrounds may suggest).

As for these playgrounds in Singapore they are special because they are designed based on distinct items or ideas from Singapore and the region. The book “Mosaic Memories: Remembering the Playgrounds Singapore Grew Up In” documents a few of these inspirational playgrounds through interviews with the original designer and profiles of recent creative works that have been inspired by these playgrounds. Here is an excerpt:

“The thinking then was to have more local identity and themes. We wanted something different, designs that reflect what we see in Singapore,” explains Mr Khor. He took inspiration from Singapore’s culture and history, transforming the bumboat and rickshaw into play spaces for instance.”

Excerpts from the book “Mosaic Memories”

This weekend I finally took sometime to see one of these playgrounds that I had read so much about, a “baby dragon” in MacPherson.  I used this map also compiled through the Singapore Memory Project to track it down.  Unfortunately I also just learned that two of my favorite old playgrounds (based on the photos I had seen) have been “replaced.”  These being the Watermelon in MacPherson and the Pelican in Dover.   Although it maybe inevitable that one day all of these beautiful works of art may be replaced due to safety concerns, I am delighted that there are still a few left in Singapore for adults and children to enjoy and to inspire other works of art in Singapore.

- Melissa

All photos are from the “Mosaic Memories” book by the Singapore Memories project except for the last photo which is by the author. 

Jan Gehl in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on “Cities for People”

I had the honor this week of speaking at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on some of my research in Singapore (I promise to write more on that next).  However the exciting part was not sharing my work but getting to meet and spend time with one of my favorite urbanist, Dr Jan Gehl of Gehl Architects in Denmark.

Jan is most famous for writing the book “Life Between Buildings” in 1971 and for his subsequent consultant and design projects over the last five decades which have reshaped city spaces to be people oriented.  His firm has worked throughout the world consulting in New York City, Melbourne, Singapore, Jordon, and Moscow.  Their approach uses research as a major tool to understand how the city works before they make any suggestions.  I love how the firm calls itself “Urban Quality Consultants,” instead of planners or architects.

Petronas Towers in KLCC

Jan’s latest book “Cities for People” tells the story of few cities that have embraced the humanized scale and people oriented concepts he has taught about and helped to design solutions towards.  This book also has a few tools for designers and planners to use as they examine their city’s spaces.  As part of the conference Jan also taught a brief workshop where he shared on these tools which are in the form of 14 simple questions about people’s conception and experience related to protection, comfort and enjoyment within the public spaces of a city.

Redesigning a KL street in a workshop.

As a planner and research who’s training was greatly influenced by the writings of Jan Gehl, Jane Jacobs other famous urbanist that emphasize the importance of people oriented cities, experienced on the street and not from above, I often take for granted all of the work that our predecessors have done to refocus our profession on people and not buildings or cars.   Much of Jan’s problems with how our cities are shaped today come from how we use traffic engineers to make cars (and drivers) happy and urban designers and architects to make places that look good from above or on maps.  As he said,

“No city seems to have a department of people, pedestrians and public life”, but “I have seen lots of traffic departments”  with lots of statistics on cars in our cities.

Instead he urges us to take a much simpler look at what makes a good city by evaluating it from the perspective of a pedestrian.  Can we walk around our cities without the fear of traffic accidents?  Can we sit and rest in public spaces throughout or city?  Are we able to have conversations in public or is our city too loud? Or simply is there even room designated to walk along our city’s streets?

I have been blessed to live in New York City and Singapore, two very walkable cities.  I also realize though that there are many of these simple lessons which we can still put into action to help make Singapore, especially the heartlands outside of the CBD, much more people instead of car oriented.   In the meantime I will leave with one of my favorite quotes from Jan:

“A good city is like a good party – people stay longer than really necessary, because they are enjoying themselves,”

- Jan Gehl

Jan Gehl and I with our Malaysian Institute of Planners hosts.

A special thanks to MIP, REDHA, PAM, and KL City Hall for inviting me to participate in the 2012 WCSC Conference.

- Melissa

Hi people. Its been too long…

Yes it has been entirely too long since I last wrote here.  Last week though I went to this event in Naples, Italy where I had the opportunity to catch up with old friends from NYU that are working for amazing organizations and writing groundbreaking books. I also was reminded of why I love cities enough to study them and am trying to find my way in this often ambiguous but still exciting field of urban planning.

Cities are complicated, often chaotic places but their distinct character evolves from the people who live in them, the who work and play in them, the people who want to preserve parts of them and the people who strive to improve them. People that have lived in one city their whole life and people who constantly move between cities. People with ideas, skills, and crafts. People with different experiences, training and ambitions.

No matter how we relate to cities they are always made distinct because of their people.

That said here are a few photos of people from my travels and everyday life in Singapore over the last four months. I know I have much catch up blogging to do, but I promise to keep contributing here, to this great experiment of urbanization.

- Melissa

Singapore: People eating with friends

Singapore: People being creative.

Colombo: People commuting

Mt Lavinia, Sri Lanka: People enjoying Sunday sunsets

Colombo: People flying kites

Colombo: People dodging the rain.

Bangkok: People sharing their stories.

Naples, Italy: People shopping.

Vatican City: People on pilgrimages.

Rome: People making music.

Rome: People celebrating.

Rome: People sightseeing

Naples, Italy: People ballroom dancing, in a public square, at midnight.

Me: taking it all in.

City Beautiful: Understanding Art, Understanding Singapore

One of my young Singaporean friends declared the other day that she finally understood what art is for.  After 20 years of thinking it was merely a way of beautifying our surroundings she realized that it can actually be used to make a statement about something which we may not be able to say with words.  Of course this led to a much longer conservation about how art can be used to communicate simple ideas with graphic design, communicate how to use something through industrial or product design, or it can simply exist to convey more complex, controversial, and even perhaps politically charged ideas.

With her revelation in mind I wanted to share two recent works of art by young Singaporeans which I thought communicate some uniquely Singaporean urban phenomena.  The first work deals with the Singapore’s limited land area as an island, and thus limited space for landfills, through a study of trash.  The second piece draws attention to how Singapore’s “multi-ethnic, multi-religious” population often lives in very dense highrises without actually knowing each other at all.

Republic of Pulau Semakau

Zinkie Aw’s “Republic of Pulau Semakau” highlights one of Singapore’s pressing environmental problems — limited landfill space.  She uses a series of portraits with filled trash cans in place of individual faces to present “things owned and disowned by people.”  She describes her work:

Pieced together, this body of work anchors to issues of waste management in Singapore — to realise things that we as individuals discard, will collectively contribute to Singapore’s only landfill on the offshore island of Pulau Semakau. In 1999, after having exhausted the landfills on mainland Singapore, Singapore then created a Semakau landfill by enclosing Pulau Semakau and a small adjacent island with a rock bund. In this light, we, could all be considered ‘Founders’ of this reclaimed portion of the island. It has never occurred to us where all these rubbish end up in land-scarce and over-populated Singapore. Hopefully these dustbins will form a reality check for all of us.

My favorite portrait in her series is “Ms Mamashop,” named after the neighborhood convenient stores, mamashops.  The trash in this image is mostly packaging, but by being set in a shop this piece highlights how the waste problem is not just about the items that we own and then choose to disown.  Instead it reflects how our each day consumption of  conveniences items contributes greatly to our ecological footprint.

At Our Doorsteps

Although photographer Sam Kang Li lives in a high-rise tower block with 44 other families he admits that after living there 17 years he “could barely count on one hand the number of residents [he] could readily recognize.”  In his photography project, “At Our Door Steps” he seeks to meet all of his neighbors and to take a family portrait for each of them.  Through this project he mentions not only meeting neighbors for the first time but also discovering old family friends that had been living in his block all along.  He describes his work:

…this is never a project about me, nor is it a self-expression piece. This is a project that aims to bring out the best sides of the residents of my block. So it is really satisfying for me to see people actually inviting themselves into the pictures and inviting themselves into the conversations.

Although Kang Li doesn’t directly mention this in his documentary or its description, but his work indirectly reflects the outcomes of Singapore’s efforts to create a “harmonious” society where people from multiple ethnic groups and religions live together in HDB tower blocks because of a quota system.  In an effort to prevent marginalizing minority groups Singapore implemented quota policies long ago to help promote a more integrated society. However as Kang Li’s documentary shows these policies have not led to as much integration as one would hope. However I was very excited to see that Kang Li was able to get all of his neighbors to participate in the project because they wanted to know their neighbors better.

Even though art such as these projects is considered beautiful, I hope that its story does not stop with aesthetics qualities.  I hope these projects inspire more us to invest in our city, be it through environmental improvements or by simply getting to know our neighbors.

- Melissa

All photos are from the photographers Zinkie Aw and Sam Kang Li

Field Trip to Melbourne

I know its been quite a while since I last posted, and being busy is never an excuse, but I have something to share as a result of my “busyness.”  I wrote a paper.  More exciting than the paper though, I got to travel to Melbourne last week to share the paper at a conference.  Of course while I was not at the conference I spent my free time exploring “Australia’s cultural capital.”  Part of my explorations included interviews and field visits for work, I also had time thought to enjoy a few of Melbourne’s famous coffee shops, cafes, laneways, bookshops and an independent movie theater.

After a few days in central Melbourne, Carlton, and Fitzroy it is hard to image that this city center was practically empty in a few decades ago.  With the help of a few key urban planning and design policies through the streets have again become active with pedestrians, cafes with out door seating, and people gathering in the city after 5pm. Additionally Melbourne maintained much of its character when decided to keep its laneways, or alleys, that had become filled with street art, and some crowded with shops and cafes.  According one city official this decision has greatly contributed to the cultural scene that exists in Melbourne as compared to other cities like Sydney that redeveloped its laneways.

There are many other planning policies and projects in Melbourne that have contributed to this creative city.  What I find most interesting though is that these policies are not just actively about creating space but are also about maintaining existing spaces in their seemingly “unplanned” state.  Enjoy some photos from my trip below.

Flinders Street Train Station

Federation Square, once called Melbourne’s “Living room”

The sun setting behind St Paul’s Cathedral, seen from Federation Square

A laneway with filled with cafe, pubs, and street art

The Harlem Globe Trotters in Fitzroy

A studio at Boyd School Studios, one of the spaces leases by the City under Melbourne’s Creative Spaces Program

To read more about Melbourne’s urban design strategies see the 2004 study conducted by Gehl Architects: Places for People.  All photos were taken by the author.

- Melissa

“Changing Landscapes” in Southeast Asia

my visitors exploring Dempsey Hill

Last week while my parents were in town I spent some time as a tourist in Singapore.  After about seven months of living and researching here it was nice to have a few days to explore and enjoy many of Singapore’s amenities that I never seem to have time to see.  For instance I finally explored Singapore’s Botanical Gardens, Rochester Park – an area of black and white  bungalows, and Dempsey Hill – former British military barracks, now restaurants.  I even had time to enjoy my favorite urban tourist activity: enjoying the view from one of the city’s highest bars (in Singapore atop the Swissotel).

view of Marina Bay and the Harbor of Singapore from the Swissotel bar

During their stay in Asia my parents and I also took a short trip to Ubud in Bali.  Although not the typical Balinese beach town you imagine, the cultural, mountainous town of Ubud was a nice break from Singapore. It didn’t hit me though until we got off the plane and into a car, on the disorderly and unpredictable roads of Bali, that the clean, planned, and orderly Singapore was very similar to Bali not too long ago.  As anyone who has studied development in Asia knows the “Singapore story” is famous for many development achievements including eliminating all slums, housing 80% of the nation’s population in public housing, and cleaning up the polluted Singapore River in 10 years time.  But knowing this story all to well from my work, I also wonder what was here before all these projects, and how different is it from the current state of Singapore’s neighbors?

the streets of Bali

women going to the temple on Sunday in Ubud

fields of rice in Ubud

on the way to Ubud

cooking ribs street side in Ubud

On their last day in Singapore I took my parents to one of my favorite used book stores in Bras Basah Complex and happened to come across a book written in 1983 about the “transformation” of three Singapore neighborhoods: Singapore Changing Landscapes: Geylang, Chinatown and Serangoon.  The book, published by the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, conveniently presented the positive side of these urban renewal stories, and avoided any of the controversies that come along with massive up grading projects.  I have to admit I bought the book for the photos and not the story.  Particularly because some images of Singapore in the past seemed strikingly similar to Singapore’s less developed neighbors today.

Chinatown 1983 - from "Singapore Changing Landscapes: Geylang, Chinatown and Serangoon"

Serangoon aka "Little India" 1983 - from "Singapore Changing Landscapes: Geylang, Chinatown and Serangoon"

The Singapore River circa 1980 - from "Singapore Changing Landscapes: Geylang, Chinatown and Serangoon"

I hate to romanticize underdeveloped, impoverished places but the similarities in what Singapore was and how Bali still is leave me to wonder what was lost at the cost of this development?  Although this clean, green, efficient city is wonderful to live and work in compared to the sprawling, congested megacities in other Southeast Asia countries I still often wish that more of Singapore’s past could be seen in the current urban fabric.  Since the past is not visible in the physical landscape of the city I cherish every story that my Singaporean friends tell about their city’s past. Stories about fruit and dragon themed playgrounds of their childhood, the significance of the recently closed McDonald’s at the beach during their teens, the hours spent in void decks with good friends late into the night, and their grandparent’s businesses along the Singapore River before it became a tourist trap.  With each new story Singapore’s past becomes much more personal to me.

At the end of their trip my Dad advised me to take my next out of town guest to Bali first then to Singapore so that they could fully appreciate what Singapore is today and also better understand the stories about its past.

So who wants to visit me in Southeast Asia next?

- Melissa

The Singapore River Today

Image Credits: the first seven images and the last were photos taken by the author.  All other images are from the Book “Singapore Changing Landscapes” 1983 Published by the Singapore Broadcasting Association.

Passing through Singapore: A Hub for Urbanist

When I moved to Singapore I had heard that it was a hub for many fields, a city where “East meets West” as the saying goes.  Even after hearing this and studying these trends I was still surprised by the influx of very interesting people passing through Singapore’s academic and professional urban planning circle last month.  Ranging from professors to practitioners, these individuals all have made significant contributions to how we think about solving problems in cities. Below are profiles of three of these visitors that I had to the opportunity to talk with. Some I had met before, while others presented new ideas, but all three provide great incites into the issues facing cities, particularly Singapore.

Peter Newman – Professor of Sustainability from  Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. An author of many books, Newman is most well known for popularizing the term “automobile dependency”  in his 1999 book Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence, (by Newman P and Kenworthy J). His more recent book Resilient Cities, written with Timothy Beatley and Heather Boyer, challenges policy makers to think beyond just sustaining a city’s current economic, environmental, or social situation. Instead it propels cities to consider how to overcome the very real threats of climate change as resilient cities. While in Singapore Newman was teaching a short course at NUS on sustainability.   Although based in Australia, he has had many opportunities to teach and research abroad. He even spent a semester at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture while I was there.  Personally I really appreciated Newman’s views about researching cities in Asia. As an outsider he seemed very aware that no one could better understand Asian cities than Asian universities.

Tim Beatley – Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Virginia.  Beatley, besides co-authoring a few books with Peter Newman, was also one of my undergraduate urban planning professors.  While in Singapore he co-taught a course with Newman. He also conducted a lecture based on his new book: Biophlic Cities. In this book, like many of the lectures I heard from him at UVA, he challenged the audience on their knowledge of the environment around them while also sharing many studies that support his passion for bringing nature into the lives of city dweller.  For instance because of his lectures at UVA I will always remember what a sliver spotter skipper looks like and that children in day-lit schools grow taller than other children.  His courses at UVA also challenged us to actually explore our city and its local environment.  Because of his course I attempted to map all of the edible trees on UVA’s Lawn and even made a short film on urban foraging.  Now as I sit on my porch in tropical Singapore, listening to an the sounds of insects, I know that much of my curiosity about the flora and fauna in my new city stemmed from the lessons in his courses.

Herbert Dreiseitl - Partner of Atelier Dreiseitl, a design firm that places a strong emphasis on rainwater runoff. There are many notable Atelier Dreiseitl projects through out the world, however my favorite is the Bishan Park project they are just about to complete in Singapore.  This park is focused around the revitalization of a portion of the Kallang River.  Previously this park sat next to a cement lined canal that contained the water from the formally free flowing river. After a few decades of water flowing through it, the cement of this canal needed to be replaced. Instead of simply upgrading the current design Atelier Dreiseitl proposed that they renaturalize this portion of the river and then construct the park around this new body of water. This project however was never intended to be just one portion of the river, but instead is part of the larger Singapore ABC (Active, Clean, Beautiful) Water scheme.  In presenting his work on Bishan, Dreiseitl was very careful to emphasis that this is not a complete project within itself, but instead the entire drainage system of Singapore needs to be considered to slow the pace of water, to provide more flexible storage spaces for water, and to eventually  contribute to reduce incidents of flooding. Singapore still has many cement lined canals and open drains to consider before it can truly have a system that sustainably handles water, but in the mean time the Bishan Park Project provides an excellent example of how Singapore could redesign its storm water management system to be a series of beautiful rivers and streams.

- Melissa

Photo Credits: Book – Better World Books, Beatley – by the author, Bishan – Atelier Dreiseitl via The New Paper

HDB Photos Circa 1975

I just started working on a side project that led me to a book about public housing in Singapore written in1975.  With more than 80% of Singaporeans living in public housing, or Housing Development Board (HDB) flats, these buildings have more than shaped the landscape of Singapore, they have also shaped many aspects of Singaporean’s lives, from shopping habits, to socialization patterns, to commuting patterns, even how children play.  I can’t wait to share more on this project in a few months, but for now I will just say it has facilitated many of interesting conversations about a topic I am very passionate about: housing.

Yesterday evening though I spent some time looking through this book with friends.  As they reminisced about growing up in similar flats,they reminded me that their is much more to Singapore’s housing story than simply improving the physical conditions of housing. Instead the story must be about those that were housed, about how they live and how their lives were changed by HDB flats. For now though enjoy these HDB photos circa 1975.

- Melissa

Queenstown Neighborhood VI,which has 4,500 units

Toa Payoh New Town

Queenstown Neighborhood IV with 5,000 housing units and light industry.

“Typical” living rooms in a three room (2 bedroom + living room) flat and a five room (4 bedrooms + living room) flat.

All images are from “Public Housing in Singapore a Multi-Displinary Study” Edited by Stephen H.K. Yeh, Published by Singapore University Press for the Housing and Development Board. 1975.

City Beautiful: A Run in Singapore

I also am not a real “runner.” Last year though I decided to take up running as a way to clear my head during my last few months of grad school and to explore Brooklyn before I moved.  Now that I have relocated, I enjoy running as a way to explore more of my neighborhood in Singapore, especially after a long day in an office. Many people though think that Singapore’s hot and humid climate would make running here miserable, but I have really come to enjoy my shaded evening runs along a few canals.

Unlike Amy’s running experiences in Dar es Salaam, I must admit that I am quite spoiled by Singapore’s extensively developed park system, complete with a Park Connector Network of running and biking trails.  The National Parks Board is even working towards completely connecting these trails so that one day I (in theory) will be able to run around the entire island. Even with all of this lovely infrastructure though I must admit I am slightly jealous of the ad hoc sites throughout Amy’s run on the Swahili coast.  My favorite run thus far is along the Ulu Pandan Canal because it passes through a variety of different Singaporean spaces, including the Clementi HDB Housing estate, landed houses, a set of community gardens, a few patches of Singapore that still feel “natural,” while also passing under MRT tracks, elevated highways, and an old Railway.  Even in this humidity, the shaded trail at sunset and this diversity of spaces make for a pleasant jog. Enjoy.

- Melissa

Ulu Pandan Canal

A glimpse of some community garden plots.

Someone fishing in the canal Sunday evening.

Part of the extensive drainage system that feeds into the canal.

Running under the old railway tracks.

The MRT tracks on the left and the highway on the right.

A giant Buddha in the background.

Sunset on Sunday.

All photos were taken by the author, some may have also appeared on instagram.

Happy Chinese New Year from Singapore!

As an foreigner celebrating my first CNY in Asia I must admit I spent most of my holiday weekend avoiding very crowded public spaces such as Chinatown and  the malls filled with people preparing for reunion dinners.  Therefore I have few urbanist related observations about the physical aspects of Singapore during this festive time. I did however enjoy many meals and gatherings with dear friends and their families, from Singapore and abroad, over the weekend. Being able to spend time with these people reminds me of one of my favorite aspects of being a city dweller – meeting and befriending people from all over the world. It is cities such as Singapore and New York, which function as hubs for so many industries and knowledge centers, that we are more likely to interact and meet people from across the world. While I have met many fascinating people in rural towns in Latin America, Africa and Asia, the diversity of my friends in these towns can never compare to the networks I have been blessed with in New York and Singapore.

Therefore while my first CNY in Asia may have been mostly spent in private spaces instead of exploring how the city celebrates in public, the simple act of sharing a few meals with people allowed me to remember why I love living in cities. In the end it really is the people that draw us to cities.

- Melissa

Braised Duck at a Lunar New Year Lunch with an Indonesian Family

Yu sheng, meaning “prosperity toss,” a relatively new Singaporean CNY traditional dish which everyone tosses together before serving.

Spekkoek, a descendent Indonesian layered cake that a friend brought back from Jakarta.

An early CNY meal with National University of Singapore colleagues and researchers from Europe, Australia and Hong Kong after an international workshop.

Watching a lion dance at the Singapore Art Museum.

For photos of Singaporeans celebrating the Year of the Dragon outside of their homes, especially in Chinatown, CNNgo has a beautiful sideshow of the festivities.

All photos are by the author, the art work featured at the beginning is from the Singapore Art Museums Signature Arts Prize.