Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/221670
Title: HETEROTOPIA AND REINVIGORATION OF CULTURAL SCENE: THE URBAN ECOLOGY OF ORCHARD ROAD
Authors: SHIH YU CHEN
Keywords: Architecture
Design Track
DT
Master (Architecture)
Wong Yunn Chii
2013/2014 Aki DT
Cultural identity
Heterotopian
Orchard Road
Reinvigoration
Singapore
Resistance
Transgression
Issue Date: 6-Nov-2013
Citation: SHIH YU CHEN (2013-11-06). HETEROTOPIA AND REINVIGORATION OF CULTURAL SCENE: THE URBAN ECOLOGY OF ORCHARD ROAD. ScholarBank@NUS Repository.
Abstract: The planning of Singapore’s urban spaces has been controlled in order to achieve optimum growth. However, the existence of different social groups and activities associated to the build environment is often overlooked. In examining the urban ecology of a pedestrianized shopping street, this dissertation seeks to uncover the urban patterns and relationships present, showing the relevance to heterotopia. Heterotopia is a concept that portrays deviations and contestations in society. In contrast to utopia, it possesses material reality and reconstitutes phenomenon in the urban spaces. Through street investigations, it reveals the habits, aspirations and identities of the people in public spaces. Every pedestrian street has a different composition within the social-cultural context – a term used to describe the formal and informal behavior in the community. Therefore, to form a picture of the ecology of any particular street, it is necessary to understand the social-cultural context of the street. A specific international street, Orchard Road is chosen to be the focus ecosystem of study within the dissertation. Orchard Road is Singapore’s most popular commercialized street and spans along the central spine structure towards Marina Bay with visitors coming from all over the world. An analytical approach towards understanding the Orchard Road shopping street is utilized, particularly on the different types of public spaces between pedestrian malls and retail malls situated at Orchard Road. Through interviews with street-users, on-site observations of how spaces are utilized and occupied, and findings on how the identities of users are imprinted on site, the social-cultural context starts to unveil itself. The organisms identified were divided into four categories – commercial spaces, food spaces, recreational spaces, and civic and residential spaces to highlight the differences of each organism. The identification and categorisation of each organism is a necessary precursor to describe the link between them, showing how stasis can be maintained through ‘energy transformation’ and ‘biogeochemical cycling.’ Comparisons of the mappings of these spaces will translate into distribution patterns. Adding knowledge of the social-cultural context to the spatial distribution of activities and places will enable the links and patterns within the ecosystem to be better understood. The dissertation hypothesizes that the concept of heterotopia does not merely reinforce the encompassing simulation of normality; it can appear consistently in ‘architecture of the everyday’ as a tool for social order and cultural identity in cross-cultural societies. It seeks to provide a study that would inspire future planning in public spaces.
URI: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/221670
Appears in Collections:Master's Theses (Restricted)

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