IMPACT OF GENTRIFICATION IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Singapore has faced a long term constraint of land scarcity which was further exacerbated when the state achieved self-governance in 1959. Early urban planning policies drawn up by the British colonial government in 1900s were inadequate in coping with the growing land use needs. Deficiencies in town planning resulted in overcrowding and plagued the city’s development. Following Singapore’s independence, gentrification was utilised as an urban policy tool to cope with the growing challenges of matured and depreciating estates in the 1990s. Gentrification refers to the process in which neighbourhoods with low socioeconomic status experience an increase in investment and influx of affluent residents, resulting in an overall uplift in socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood (Hwang & Lin, 2016). Gentrification often includes improvements in the physical environment, increase in housing prices, displacement of the lower income residents and cultural changes to the neighbourhood. On a broader level, studies have traditionally associated gentrification with detriment impact on society as such measures tend to disrupt the character of the neighbourhood. However, in the contemporary context, gentrification has gradually provided an increasingly positive effect on the built environment and community. Gentrification in Singapore adopts a different nature as compared to major cities in the United States of America and Europe due to its unique housing policies. Thus, this study seeks to challenge the traditional notions of gentrification and to provide a comprehensive assessment of the impact of gentrification in the context of Singapore.