THE SPACES OF EXCEPTION - A STUDY ON SINGAPORE'S LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS

Abstract

As cities progressively expanded over the years through modernisation, the notion of architecture as a representation of order has transitioned into a technique for ordering in the city-state. Inevitably, politically defined communities emerged. These communities which existed in contradistinction to socially excluded communities formed as a result of the rejection of the “minorities”, i.e. the poor who are deemed to have no economic value by the sovereign state. These socially excluded communities exist in a “space of exception”, which manifest in the urban pockets of huddled communities. In the context of Singapore, such enclaves are found in the low-income rental units leased by the Housing Development Board (HDB) to the city’s residents who have fallen through the gaps of the socio-economic ladder. Although many of them are at the bottom of the socio-economic chain, not being able to effectively contribute to Singapore’s economy, they do not entirely fit within the definition or description of the “bare life“, as conceived and observed by Giorgio Agamben. Through qualitative methods such as indirect observation and short interviews with the residents living in these low-income HDB rental flats, this research seeks to establish a deeper understanding as to how this peculiar “space of exception” is occupied by the inhabitants of these spaces. It will explore the influence of the physical design on the neighbourhood culture formed for the marginalised and access the social impact of such exclusion of these spaces. Urban mapping on a national scale will also be done to analyse the urban distribution of such rental housing areas, whether they are clustered in a concentrated area or distributed evenly, and to provide a sense of the geography. After which, micro-scale observation will be done to investigate the types of activities these “minorities” participate in, and with whom do they socialise with. Interviews and questionnaires will also be conducted to analyse and depict the everyday accounts in these “spaces of exception”. Through these methods, the research will consider the consequences of the exclusion of such urban planning in which such a socio-economic minority of the city’s residents is situated in an enclave.