1.1 Intro: My Final Year Project
The documentation of my final year project at Lasalle College of the Arts, Ba(Hons) Design Communication.
For my research compendium done in year 2, I looked into the concept of Place Identity in Global Cities. The basis of the research stemmed from my passion for geography, comprising of both the human and physical environment. The concepts covered include space, urban design and human behaviour, but with a focus on the semiotics of space as well as Rossi Aldo’s view on city.
During the course of my research, I learnt that the significance of a place is born out of the interaction between the inhabitant and the place, that spans time. Rossi, an Italian Architect, emphasises on how a city is moulded by historical events. The quote below from Rossi embodies this idea.
“This giant house comes into being through a double process. One process is that of production, in the sense of the city as a work of manufacture, an object literally made by the hands of men; the second process is that of time, which ultimately produces an autonomous artifact.” — Aldo Rossi, The Architecture of the City
Contrary to this, from my research I learned that Singapore’s urban design has little consideration for the city’s historical value. I decided to read up more on the heritage conservation efforts of Singapore, which led me to my first reading: “Tourism and Heritage Conservation in Singapore” by Peggy Teop and Shirlena Huang.
The main takeaway for me from this reading was that the main driving force behind the change in Singapore’s urban environment is economic value. Tourism was seen as a stepping stone for the nation to rise in economical value and eventually its overall global status. Joselyn (lecturer) had also told me to consider looking into the tourism industry, especially since the industry is doing badly during this pandemic.
“In urban landscapes, it (Tourism) destroys local and regional features and replaces these with pseudo places, which suggest nothing of history, life and culture of the people who live or work around them.” — Peggy Teo and Shirlena Huang
After reading this, I felt a sense of urgency on behalf of the people, to stop the government from further transforming Singapore into a pseudo city. With this in mind, I decided to read up more on Tourism and its effect on cities.