URBAN ECOTOURISM IN SINGAPORE: RECALIBRATING NOTIONS OF NATURE

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has led to separation of man from nature, raising different objectifications of nature from pragmatic to idealistic. This in turn has led to operations on nature, from construction of manicured nature to conservation of vanishing landscapes respectively, ultimately endorsing economic or development imperatives. Left unmediated, both will result in destructive trajectories. Singapore embodies a pragmatic attitude towards nature that has been largely credited as the cause of its success in environmental management. However signs of strain with regard to nature conservation are beginning to emerge. Since tourism has been an important justification for heritage conservation in Singapore, this potential is exploited through urban ecotourism as part of a strategy to ameliorate inadequacies of existing environmental solutions. Meanwhile ecotourism is also relooked to explore how it can foster not just conservation but also environmental improvements from an overall perspective that factors in environmental impacts beyond immediate onsite consumption.