THE ASSEMBLAGE OF PLACE : THE CULTURES AND SUBCULTURES OF HAJI LANE

Abstract

Spaces and places in Singapore are becoming more and more globalized and internationalized, catering to the needs of the global community and the global image Singapore hopes to portray. The living, working and leisure spaces and places are continuously being globalized as Singapore progress. As these globalized spaces increases in volume and number, there is no longer any space left for the local cultures to make appearance, take root or flourish; not to say the subcultures.

However, there is this one small decrepit back lane to Arab Street and Bali lane where cultures and subcultures take root and flourish. Within this humble back lane located in the Malay heritage district under Conservation, the most unlikely place to be located in, Haji lane is a unique urban and cultural phenomenon. It is a lane with limited and definite physical space, but a seemingly ‘unlimited’ cultural space for many different cultures and subcultures to exist together, and flourish in a context that do not seem to support so. It is the one place in Singapore that provides an alternative to the ‘outside world’, a refuge for expression and a freedom to be themselves or to be different.

The interest emerges due to the inability to comprehend such existence of place under an applied cultural image of Kampong Glam, where Haji lane takes on a total different image, depicting many cultures and subcultures that range from ethnic to youth; culture that has historical roots to new and modern cultures customized and appropriated by the local youths. This leads to one important question on what is it in Haji lane that allows different cultures and subcultures to exist together and generate a place that is diverse and intense?

Therefore, this paper seeks to question the assemblage of Haji lane, on the ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ different layers of cultures and subcultures gather and flourish in Haji lane. In the midst of possible clashes and overlaps, how social, cultural and architectural spaces in Haji Lane react to each other, finding an appropriate spatial assemblage to successfully accommodate the many differences within one small lane. Therefore, how this can contribute to the growth of possible diverse places in Singapore.