LOCAL URBICIDE OR/AS NATIONAL (RE)DEVELOPMENT ? INVESTIGATING GENERATIONS OF CHANGE AT ROCHOR CENTRE, SINGAPORE

Abstract

Taking the contentious acquisition of Rochor Centre as a beginning, this thesis investigates the multiple interpretations and materialities of urban (re)development in Singapore. Using semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis, I attempt to bring the concepts of ‘urbicide’ (Coward, 2009:15) and ‘geo-body’ (Thongchai, 1994:128), which are often used in other disciplines, into productive conversations with urban geography. There are two objectives. Firstly, through imagining Singapore as a geobody, I seek to provide a multi-scalar interpretation of urban (re)development and urbicide in Singapore. Secondly, I seek to contextualize the concept of urbicide within a non-western city of Singapore. Ultimately, through this consideration of the national (re)development context, this thesis investigates how the imminent demolishment of Rochor Centre could be understood as beyond the local loss of heterogeneity and urbanity. This thesis argues that there is a need to take on a multi-scalar and historical approach to the understanding of urban (re)development. The nature of Singapore as a city-state means that not only are the national and city scale congruent, but this also suggests the possible conceptualization of the city-state as a geo-body. This framework illuminates that destruction of buildings within this geo-body is no longer simply an assault on ‘urbanity’ and ‘heterogeneity’ as defined by Coward (2009:15). Instead, the destruction of buildings could have positive effects on the urban metabolism of the city (Gandy, 2004). Beyond this multi-scalar interpretation of urban (re)development, this thesis also argues that urbicide is a profound phenomenon that takes on different material forms when grounded within the spaces of Rochor Centre. A key finding is that there are generational differences in perceptions of urban (re)development in Singapore. These generational differences are brought about by lived experiences and geo-histories of individuals, which illuminate how wider temporalities of urban life could have impacts on individual’s perception of urbicide.