By Bobby Steer
Deliberate and calculated. After a semester of researching Singapore, these are the two words that stick out most when I think of the country. How could an island with such monumental overpopulation problems in the 60s develop into a country with far less traffic congestion than San Francisco despite hosting more people per square foot today (Binder 2019)? One may cite the fact that the People’s Action Party (PAP) government has ruled uncontested since 1965 and thus could execute a long-term strategy that accounts for these issues (Chua 2011). Others could cite the vast amount of digital data the government has started collecting in the past couple decades that enables it to simulate urban planning in the most efficient ways possible (Purnell 2016). Another argument could be the Housing Department Board’s vast amount of power since its inception in 1961 allowed the country to develop a public housing program unlike any other world has seen, which can accommodate so many people through its reliance on high-rise apartment buildings. The PAP government could be expected to answer the question by citing the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit, can’t-fail attitude, and every citizen’s personal investment in making Singapore a success. In actuality, the reasoning for Singapore’s success in urban planning stems from a mixture of all these aspects and more.
I was first drawn to Singapore purely because of its beauty. One can recognize the country by its well curated city gardens and green landscapes, as displayed in figure 1. From public housing buildings to public service areas like airports, there is a clear focus and priority given to creating a natural and green space that integrates nicely with its surroundings.
Each part that Singapore owes its success too has a dark and bright side. For example, the Housing Department Board created diverse communities where everyone could gain homeownership, and even achieved equality such that public housing was not seen as a lower-class asset. However, these low buy-in prices would never have possible to offer to Singaporeans had the government not exercised aggressive land acquisition powers that hurt the country’s landowners in the process (Chua 2011). Indeed, there are two sides to almost every aspect of Singapore’s history, and each section I investigate will illuminate both the advantages and the critiques of the issues and events.
The best place to start in understanding the country of Singapore’s history is with its public housing history. I provide background on the housing situation going into 1961 when the Housing Development Board was created, define the PAP government’s approach to housing, and answer how the government made the approach work. I round out the discussion by examining the government’s goals of the housing program as well as the program’s pitfalls and common critiques. Next, I move on to looking at the country’s collection of oral histories. The largest archive is curated by Singapore’s Oral History Centre. This section illuminates why UNESCO lauds some of the collection’s ability to provide previously untold history, as well as some critiques of the PAP government’s influence on the archive. Finally, the third section discusses the history of census-taking and surveying in colonial and post-colonial Singapore; the conversation shifts to the government’s collection of digital data in the past couple decades.