DO ECO-PRECINCTS MAKE ECO-CITIZENS? A STUDY OF SINGAPORE’S FIRST PUBLIC ECOPRECINCT, TREELODGE@PUNGGOL

Abstract

The urban sustainability agenda has increasingly focused on seeking the right urban form, complete with green technologies and ‘eco’ features, to create sustainable subjects. This constitutes the broader search for an ‘urban sustainability fix’ which allows for the pursuit of economic growth while managing ecological dissent. In Singapore, this ‘fix’ has concretised in the form of the first public housing ecoprecinct, Treelodge@Punggol. Beyond state discourses of the project’s purported success, little is known about how the ‘fix’ materialises and interacts with residents. To this end, this thesis uses Treelodge@Punggol as an empirical locus to critically examine urban sustainability practices in the context of Singapore. The findings of this study suggest that a disconnect exists between state visions of ‘eco-living’ and what pans out on the ground, for technological interventions of the state are complicated by residents’ varied aspirations, sentiments and experiences. More pertinently, they point towards inherent limits of strong state involvement in ecological projects – the strong state is a necessary but insufficient condition for visions of sustainability to materialize. If Singapore is to embark on even more ambitious public eco-living housing projects, state involvement will necessarily need to be complemented by a consideration of the messy realm of residents’ everyday lived experiences and ways to foster civic engagement, and in doing so bring ‘people’ back into the urban sustainability equation.