Skewed Perceptions of Urbanity

Few could blame me when I took a double-take the other day as I read about Pittsburgh placing 10th as the cleanest city in the world. Yes, industrial Pittsburgh- the one where you can literally feel dust latching onto skin the moment you hit the tarmac while twitching your nose in disdain. Being the Singaporean that I was, I hastily scoured the list for our tiny island nation. Guess what? We were placed 50th.

Let’s call this phenomenon ‘Urban Shock’- a form of cultural shock experienced when a displaced urbanite is forced to reassess his position in a different city fabric that challenges his every expectation of the city. Oddly enough, one would think that Singaporeans, being as intensively affected by globalization as they come, would be more than ready to accept this disparity in urban condition. Yet I sadly report that my observations tell of a different picture- one of conceited self assurance and a propensity to tolerate rather than understand and appreciate.

It is hard to find fault with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) - the good work they do is for all to see. Urban theories concocted overseas make textbook appearances in our surroundings- even the trees don’t ever seem out of place. It is possible to qualitatively prove our planning prowess- a child could match the existence of prescribed urban elements out of an architectural picture book here in Singapore- arguably a tough sell in Manila or Bombay.

Yet the rest of the world’s cities are so dissimilar- and not too many Singaporeans realize that these cities are not just ‘different’, they can actually be better. Conditioned into sterility, we find it hard to divorce ourselves from preconceptions that efficient equals best. It has come to a disturbing point where we are so confident of our nation’s irrevocable success in urban reform that we begin to casually dismiss other schools of thought: the polarizing reactions to Joseph Acebillo urban workshop at NUS- a case in point.

Even when blindly mimicking the high density concentrations of Tokyo, Hong Kong or Bangkok, we are subconsciously still flirting with the idea of controlled chaos- laughable if you think about it- for we never escape our conceptual prisons. The dust and grime that we see are not some unworthy side effects that we should hope to control to flaunt our obsessive compulsive desire with order; the dust and grime is the city- and that translates way beyond just the physical manifestations to social conditions of planning as well.

In Pittsburgh, I slowly learnt for real that art galleries don’t need to have grandiose entrances and that the most seductive charm is not that which is plain to see, but is that which is severely understated with intent. When we wake up someday and realize that no one else gives a hoot about having the correct depth and height ratio for streets, where else can we find the soul of our city? Good urban design is not about imposing our will on our surroundings- that’s child’s play– it is not what we make our surroundings into that gives us credence, it is what we make of it that allows us to triumph.

So forget our fancy New National Art Gallery for a while- the ordained sterility there is more suffocating for the arts than helpful. It is time we made our own districts a la Bugis- to allow ourselves one last triumph in urban design: for when we look back it is not the mortar that we remember, but the spirit.

Reference articles (for the ranking):
http://www.mercerhr.com/referencecontent.jhtml?idContent=1128060#top50health
http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000