RECUPERATING UTOPIANISMS: CREATIVE URBAN INTERVENTIONS AND URBAN FUTURES IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In urban studies, there has often been a disdain towards utopianism because of its association with totalitarian and idealistic visions. However, some urban scholars have argued that attending to the concept of critical utopianisms can productively enable the imagination of alternative and better urban possibilities, instead of dwelling on urban ills. Singapore celebrated its fiftieth year of independence in 2015, and the nation was encouraged to imagine the next fifty years of Singapore. Yet, in a “blueprint Utopia” like Singapore, where the dominant presence of the state permeates even the social lives of its citizens, to what extent is there room for the voices and urban aspirations of ordinary urban dwellers? To answer this question, this thesis explores the critical utopian potentials of creative urban interventions in Singapore’s public spaces. These urban interventions are spatial practices that not only critically question or critique present conditions, but also open up spaces of hope in which diverse possibilities of urban futures can be envisioned, as compared to a singular “blueprint Utopia” that is defined by Singapore’s political elites. I illustrate how individuals and collectives tactically manoeuvre around state surveillance or co-optation in Singapore. Therefore, even though creative urban interventions in Singapore are not always as “guerrilla” and spontaneous as usually discussed within academic literature, they nonetheless carve out critical utopian spaces that are immanent within public spaces, fleeting as they may be, for the exploration and experimentation of different urban futures.