LOOSE SPACES : COILED URBANISM AT SINGAPORE �S LITTLE INDIA

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration on ‘loose spaces’, a term used by Franck and Stevens (2007) to describe space that has been appropriated by their inhabitants for their own desires and results in new activities occurring that were not originally intended for the space. The chosen site in the Little India district in Singapore, gazetted as a conservation area by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 1989, exhibits phenomena of loose spaces. These loose spaces occur primarily during weekends and public holidays when estimates of 50,000 South Asian workers come to the site. Due to this temporary influx and sheer volume of workers during these times, these workers often appropriate public spaces for a variety of leisure activities. To capitalise on this worker influx, business owners also appropriate public spaces for various retail purposes. These spatial phenomena become a source of nuisance to the residents in Little India when the workers’ activities disrupt their routines. As a result, the authorities impose further regulations on the site during these times to curtail these activities and maintain an amicable environment for the business owners, HDB residents in Little India and the workers. Also, Little India is marketed by the Singapore Tourism Board as an Indian Ethnic enclave to attract tourist. Thus, loose space in Little India is space that mediated between the needs to conserve the ‘Indian brand’ for the purpose of tourism, the expectations of the HDB residents for perceived safety, the business needs of the various business owners and the spatial practices of the weekend foreign workers This project aims to explore loose spaces in Little India through an existing brief for a hotel development in the heart of Little India. By injecting a level of ‘looseness’ to the brief, this project aims to marry between the needs amongst the 4 main user groups - hotel users (tourist), HDB residents, retailers and the weekly workers during different times of the day, week and throughout the year. This project also aims to critique on the use of space between diverse ethnic and user groups in a multi-ethnic cosmopolitan Singapore.