GARDEN [SUBVERTING] CITY : HOW COMMODIFIED NATURE REVEALS THE CITY OBJECTIFIED

Abstract

The essay would seek to make the point on how greenery within the Garden City has been objectified to such a degree that it effectively subjugates us into subjects to our own enterprise of commodifying Nature, from the prior relationship of Nature as the commodified subject. An initial foray into our phenomenological apparatus comprising, Affectivity, Perception and Recollection would be executed, in order to gain an understanding of how we interact with and perceive our environment, as well as how this relationship subsequently changes with the increasing assimilation of commodified Nature into our city. Following that, discussions on the effect of images upon us, and how we are increasingly drawn toward a simulated environment, would be used to substantiate the argument on how this commodified Nature/ Green has been rarefied to such an extent in serving a complementary function to the city, that a limit has been transgressed, where our servants have subjugated us, as evinced by the upcoming Cool Conservatories.In addition, notions of Value imbued within Nature that subsequently enables its entry into the city as a commodity, would be posited. And how this commodification of Nature ultimately allows us an objectified reading of the city, in how we are increasingly drawn into a simulated world of artifice, evinced by the escalation of spectacle. Finally, the Cool Conservatories being constructed in Gardens by the Bay, Marina South would be used as the vehicle to illustrate salient points substantiating the hypothesis using the arguments listed above.