HOW TO BE A DISTINCTIVE AND VIBRANT CITY? BASED ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF BUGIS

Abstract

What is identity? The formation of a distinctive and vibrant city requires identity that has a generative capacity. Identity of a place involves the dialectic relation between the built form and people. Much discussion has been on people’s ability to give meaning to the built form and contributing to the identity of the place. While the element of the people should always be taken into consideration, the built form should be given equal attention as it plays a significant role in the process of identity making. The grain of the urban fabric is an essential tool to provide the physical structure for the place that will directly have an impact on how people are organized, use the space and in turn influence and alter the people’s power to negotiate and how they give meaning to the space. Through the study of the transformation of Bugis and the analysis of the urban fabric and its interaction with the people, this paper sets out to discuss the impact of urban fabric (fine grained and coarse grained) on the lived space and its relationship to the people, in shaping the identity of Bugis. Taking into considerations other external conditions, such as social, economical and political factors, the paper will also examine how these dynamic conditions reinforces, improvises or creates the distinctive and vibrant Bugis. The second objective of the paper is to find out the set of conditions that allow for diversity to happen that in turn encourages formation of a distinctive and vibrant city. While accepting the reality of tabula rasa, this paper seeks to question of what may possibly lie beyond for Singapore and how to be a distinctive and vibrant city.