Singapore and the experience of place in old age

Abstract

Through case studies of two neighborhoods in Singapore with large concentrations of elderly residents - Tiong Bahru and Chinatown - we explore the relationship between the aged's emotional attachments to place and the sustenance of their personal identities, their continued participation in life, and their adaptation to changing circumstances. In particular, we examine their feelings of physical, social, and autobiographical insideness. We emphasize the rapidly changing physical conditions in Chinatown wrought by the government's conservation strategy and their implications for the elderly. In Tiong Bahru young people are moving to newer housing developments, leaving the aged behind in an essentially little-changed physical environment; we discuss the elderly's sense of identity in this context.