Nature and society : a new territory of environmental design in Singapore

Abstract

Nature, as we know it is changing. As architects and urban planners address these transformations their tactics are often limited to the contemporary “organic,” “green,” and “ecological” designs. All of them attempting to achieve equilibrium between the social and natural worlds, understood as separate spheres. This dissertation is an investigation of the shiftng society‐nature relationship framed in the environmental management policies in Singapore from the 1960s’s “Clean and Green” campaign to today’s sustainable development era. Influenced by Modernist’s ideals, motivation for the new forms of sustainable approaches are more and more about projecting a manufactured image of sleek, modern, global and clean cities. As a result the way which Singapore frames the society‐nature relationship represents only a very narrow spectrum of man‐nature relations, where “nature” is completely externalized and treated in an instrumental manner politically, socially and economically. This dissertation hopes to expand our usual notion of “nature”, and an alternative kind of “nature”, subnature, is proposed. They are the peripheral and often denigrated forms of “nature” in contrast to those seemingly desirable forms of “nature” like the sun, wind, or trees. Working with subnatures acknowledges the blurred line between society and “nature” and challenges our usual conceptions of sustainable environmental designs. By understanding of what “nature” really entails, we can create new and creative forms of society‐nature engagement which enhances our effort to protect the environment and creates a new territory for environmental designs in Singapore.