THE ORCHARDSCAPE : SINGAPORE COGNITION

Abstract

Based on the idea that people who experience a landscape will form a cognitive image of it, this study is essentially concerned with the Singaporean image of the Orchard Road landscape referred to here as the Orchardscape . A variety of techniques including library research, fieldwork, structured survey (N = 404), and in-depth interviews (N = 11) was employed to elicit both subjective and objective aspects of the Singaporean image of the Orchardscape. The Orchardscape image is defined in two Lynchian concepts: imageability and legibility . Imageability is primarily a product of landscape qualities - its genius loci . Legibility, on the other hand, is enhanced by personal experience and landscape cues. The Orchardscape imageability reflects four themes: character and aesthetics, landscape iconography, place attachments, and festival landscape. The Orchardscape is characterized by its beauty, people/crowd, artifacts and functions, fast pace and activities, and fragmented landscape features. The Orchardscape epitomizes/expresses modernity, westernization, consumerism, cosmopolitanism, and high class. With immense meanings soaked in the landscape, the Orchardscape has become a place for many Singaporeans in both the functional and subjective senses. The programming of major national events and celebrations in the Orchardscape has made it synonymous with fun and enjoyment, a carnival atmosphere, a holiday mood, and festivity among Singaporeans. This study shows that the Orchardscape is highly imageable and that reveals a genius loci (the spirit of the Orchardscape) for Singaporeans. Using information from verbal interviews, locational tests, and cartographic representations, the Orchardscape is also found to be a highly legible landscape among most Singaporeans. This legibility, however, is not the same to all Singaporeans. Generally speaking, the Orchardscape is more legible to older, higher income, and English-educated Singaporeans. In explaining the Orchardscape legibility, both personal and landscape factors are discussed. Experience/familiarity, spatial proximity, and mode of transport (ranked according to legibility) are the most relevant personal factors explaining legibility. Landscape factors include cultural cues (e.g. signs, landmarks, colour), spatial structure (e.g. order, coherence, simplicity), and functional importance of places (e.g. distance to the nearest MRT station, functional sense of place). In addressing the future of the Orchardscape, this study asserts that in spite of the Singapore government's policy to decentralize the central area (develop Marina Centre and establish four regional centres - Woodlands, Tampines, Seletar, and Jurong East), the Orchardscape is likely to remain as a predominant commercial, retail, hotel, and entertainment centre. This inertia in the Orchardscape can be explained by two reasons. First, the relative laissez-faire policy in Orchard Road is likely to sustain a continuous influx of investments (e.g. recent hotel and retail projects). Second, Orchard Road is and will still be the only up-market and higher order central place in Singapore. The critical threshold of demand from the locals and tourists, and the critical mass of agglomeration of retailers and hotels are not likely and easily to be replicated elsewhere in Singapore. In this context, the understanding of the Singaporean image of the Orchardscape would provide a useful guide to one crucial facet of the Singaporean lifestyle - leisure, consumption, and celebrations.