Basically, there is a rising urban planning trend of
‘placemaking’ – with a tendency towards a more ‘participatory’ form of urban
planning and depending on city to city, something else is attached to it
–values or aspirations. But we can say that ‘placemaking’ strategies have a look
and feel to them. While we can criticize placemaking trends for being ‘more of
the same’ urban means of (softer) control, I was interested to see how else we
can think of urban planning’s placemaking.
So, I ended up looking at geography’s notion of place/space. (so if you have time, do read Robert Sack A Sketch of a Geographical
Theory of Morality – it is my main point of reference to this set of ideas.)
Helpful to understand how geography thinks of place and the difference between
space and place. Geographically speaking, placemaking is a human activity that
is necessary to create projects (make worlds) and something humans engage in on
different geographic scales.
The geographical notion of placemaking opens the urban
planning placemaking up so that we can understand them both as geographical
placemaking regardless of their scales. This is where Robert Sack’s focus on
the moral qualities of place becomes helpful for us to see place in relation to
other projects and ask if these places are good for the ‘world’. With
it, we are not trapped by this thinking or sceptical outlook of top-down
placemaking bad and bottom-up placemaking good. Instead, it is possible to
think and judge the moral qualities in all places and discover allies within
the ‘other side’.
Been a day or two thinking about this issue on collecting signatures and public order act and came across this interesting article on the ST papers.
Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin in Parliament, said that those who wish to hold such events outside the Speakers' Corner will have to apply for a police permit, and that a police permit is not required for public assemblies at the Speakers' Corner which meet the conditions set out in the Public Order (Unrestricted Area) Order 2016. Such conditions include not involving foreigners or discussing race and religion.
Parliament Sidelights: 'When is it fine to get signatures in public for petition?' Amrin Amin asked
PUBLISHED | FEB 5, 2018, 2:16 PM SGT UPDATED FEB 5, 2018, 5:56 PM
SINGAPORE - When is it all right to gather signatures in public for a petition and when does it cross the line?
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC)'s attempts to get answers on this issue on Monday (Feb 5) were sidestepped by Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin in Parliament, who asked him to file a separate Parliamentary question to get a comprehensive response.
Mr Singh noted that the police did not intervene when signatures for a petition for an alternative location for the historic Sungei Road flea market were gathered in public without a permit at the market last year. But other instances of such public petition signings drew a different response.
Mr Singh's question comes after sociopolitical website The Online Citizen (TOC) cancelled a move to gather signatures in public at various MRT stations last month, for a petition seeking the live telecast and full screening of Parliament sittings.
The cancellation came after the police informed the website that having the signings at MRT stations without a permit would violate the Public Order Act.
In an earlier Parliamentary question, Mr Singh asked if the police would favourably consider an application to collect signatures for the purposes of a parliamentary petition on any given matter in a public place. He also asked how, and at which public venues other than Speakers' Corner, could citizens legally make arrangements to sign a parliamentary petition.
In response, Mr Amrin said that those who wish to hold such events outside the Speakers' Corner will have to apply for a police permit, and that a police permit is not required for public assemblies at the Speakers' Corner which meet the conditions set out in the Public Order (Unrestricted Area) Order 2016. Such conditions include not involving foreigners or discussing race and religion.
Mr Singh then further probed Mr Amrin on whether he can share details about how the police exercises its discretion on how the Public Order Act is applied when it comes to the issue of how signatures for petitions are collected in public, making reference to signings for the Sungei Road petition.
Mr Amrin said that instances on when a permit is required and when a permit is not required is clearly set out in the provisions under the Public Order Act. "The police will generally act on information received and conduct investigations before deciding on what action to take," he added.
- Parliament Sidelights is an occasional blog on what goes on in the House.
The bill combines loose wording with catch-all formulations that extend the range of applicability of the penalties to absolutely all content circulating online.
the bill grants every government minister the right to issue a directive censoring, correcting or blocking access to online content that threatens what the minister considers to be “in the public interest” without satisfactorily explaining this concept (article 4). Similarly articles 4, 7, 8 and 9 allow ministers to take measures against any entity in order to “prevent a diminution of public confidence in [...] the government [or] an organ of state.”
RSF has long been concerned about the possibility that governments could adopt laws that use combatting fake news as a pretext for imposing censorship. In response, RSF launched an innovative self-regulatory initiative a year ago called the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), which aims to promote trustworthy journalism by giving concrete advantages to media outlets that adhere to journalistic standards.
'Loose wording, ministers' discretionary powers, disproportionate penalties, biased legislative process... Everything, in #Singapore#FakeNews Bill, is a horrifying censorship tool'
Didn't realised that Lee Wen's attack in HK was actually reported on Channel 5 news in Singapore. In case u did not see it. =-=-=-= List of dreamy Lee Wen -- Lee was very inspired by the state of dreaming. A Waking Dream: Sun Boy and Yellow Man
The interview for Lucid Dream in the reverie of the Real.
misinform social media ... feed them wrong info. #misinformer
If Social Media's business is offering data of their users to corporate and trying to sell them something. What would happen when the data we is 'faked' or misleading.
Heard about their work some months back... but I didn't really understand what it was... but this Amnesty video shows what are some of the techniques Forensics Architecture use to investigate human rights violations.
Amazing work and different way of thinking how we can use architecture knowledge 'differently'.
Forensics Architecture is one of the nominees of Turner Prize this year.
PUBLISHEDFEB 23, 2017, 8:36 PM SGTUPDATEDMAR 12, 2017, 6:39 AM
SINGAPORE - The Sungei Road flea market's last day of operation is on July 10 but the hawkers are hoping to be given an alternative or temporary site that will allow them to continue their business.
On Thursday (Feb 23), Mr Koh Ah Koon, 76, the president of the Association for the Recycling of Second Hand Goods, unfurled a banner at Sungei Road calling for the site to be conserved.
Speaking to The Straits Times later, Mr Koh said he was saddened but hopes an alternative site can be allocated for the hawkers.
We hope the government can give us a temporary site so that our lifestyle and this aspect of local heritage can be retained."
He said he has printed 10 banners and plans to collect signatures till July to support calls for the site to be "conserved" or retained. By 7pm on Feb 23, he had collected about 200 signatures.
The Government said the free hawking zone has to make way for future residential developments in a multi-agency statement last Tuesday.
Mr Koh's association, which represents about 70 of 200 vendors at the flea market, had previously proposed four alternative sites - next to Rochor River, at Kampong Bugis along Kallang River, behind Sim Lim Tower and a roadside near Jalan Kubor Malay cemetery.
But the authorities said the four sites had been zoned for parks and residential use under Master Plan 2014.
After the Government announcement, the association submitted a fresh appeal to extend the deadline until the end of the year. If that fails, it hopes to secure a temporary site in Jalan Besar behind a hawker centre.
The Association for the Recycling of Second Hand Goods was established in 2012 after the Sungei Road Free Hawking Zone was reduced in size the previous year to make way for the construction of Sungei Road MRT station.
Mr Kalay V., 45, a businessman who signed the petition said: "This provides the elderly hawkers a legitimate source of income and can be seen as an engagement programme for seniors - not that different from those run by community centres."
How is this article even illuminating what is going to happen to the original permit-holders?
Doesn't this give you more questions than answers? Perhaps, that is how media makes us critical animals.
You can refer to the article and study it. It will be helpful to comment with more mysteries uncovered. haha.
Do that on the Save Sungei Road Market page. http://www.facebook.com/savesungeiroadmarket/
Thank you!
Parliament: Five Sungei Road rag-and-bone men likely to move to hawker centres in city area
by Melody Zaccheus.
SINGAPORE - Five of the 11 original permit-holders at the Sungei Road flea market have indicated interest in operating stalls at Golden Mile Food Centre and Chinatown Market.
All 11 vendors were given the option of renting stalls at selected hawker centres in the city area at subsidised rates after the market’s last day of operations on July 10, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli.
He told Parliament on Monday (April 3) that, as a show of goodwill, vendors will have their rents waived for the first year and receive a 50 per cent rebate off their subsidised rent for the second year.
Nominated MP Kok Heng Leun asked how Sungei Road vendors have been helped, with the hawking zone due to be closed “to facilitate future residential development use”.
Mr Masagos said at least one of the original vendors has been granted financial aid. Other vendors who are not original permit holders will be given information on financial and employment aid, as well as ways for them to continue their trade, he said.
The 11 vendors are from a pool of 31 rag-and-bone men who, “because of their chosen trade”, were excluded from a government programme to resettle street hawkers in purpose-built markets and hawker centres in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr Masagos said the authorities have accommodated hawking at Sungei Road until the area was required for redevelopment, despite it causing inconveniences like obstructing public roads.
Mr Kok also asked if the authorities would engage the Association for the Recycling of Second Hand Goods, which represents about 70 vendors, on possible alternative outdoor sites. He noted that, as the last free hawking zone in Singapore, the market is integral to the country’s cultural landscape.
In response, Mr Masagos said the country’s needs must be taken into account. The authorities also have “to be fair to the many, many other hawkers who have moved on” to hawker centres and markets.
He added: “The time has come and we have engaged enough. To meet them again is to almost promise that we will change our stance and that redevelopment will not start... There are alternatives. But should we put up another site like this which is deemed to be like Sungei Road but not at Sungei Road? I don’t think this is something we want to dwell (on) further.”
The association’s president Koh Ah Koon, 76, has been rallying the public to sign a petition to conserve the market, or for an alternative site. He told The Straits Times he has collected 4,000 signatures so far, and will continue to canvas support for it.
Said Zahari passed away at 12.30pm on 12th April 2016. Here is the film by Martyn See. (his blog here). An interview with Said Zahari, a staunch anti-colonial newspaper editor who was accused by the Singapore government of alleged involvement in pro-communist activities and subsequently detained without trial from 1963 to 1979. This film is banned by the Singapore government for "undermining public confidence in the Government."
A Grin Without a Cat is a 1977 French essay film by Chris Marker. It focuses on global political turmoil in the 1960s and '70s, particularly the rise of the New Left in France and the development of socialist movements in Latin America. Using the image of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat, the film's title evokes a dissonance between the promise of a global socialist revolution (the grin) with its actual nonexistence. The film's original French title is Le fond de l'air est rouge, which means "The essence of the air is red", and has a subtext similar to the English title, implying that the socialist movement existed only in the air.
The title is also a play on words: The original expression in French is "Le fond de l'air est frais", meaning "there is a chill/a nip in the air". Chris Marker replaced the last word with "rouge" (red), so the original title translates to There are Reds in the Air.
This is just a stupid analogy and warped logic all together. I really wonder if anyone out there is actually convinved by his and the ministry's stupid logic.
Cross Island Line travel time will take 6 minutes more with skirting route: Khaw
Choosing the skirting alignment for the construction of the Cross Island Line (CRL) tunnel at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) will cost commuters six minutes of additional travel time, said transport minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament on Monday (29 Feb).
Khaw was responding to questions posed by Nee Soon GRC MP and wildlife activist Louis Ng on the environmental impact for the construction of the 50-km CRL, and whether the transport ministry would opt for the skirting alignment at the CCNR to cater to more residents.
“I’m not sure if we can brush aside extra six minutes just like that because for the MRT commuters, extra half a minute is terrible,” Khaw said.
“Because when the train has a disruption and there’s an extra one minute of delay, within that one minute (commuters) send out maybe 100 tweets to flame LTA or SMRT,” he added.
“In the rail industry, they define disruption as anything that causes delay of more than five minutes, and six is more than five.”
The government has yet to decide whether to choose the 4km direct alignment or the 9km skirting alignment. In the first option, the route cuts through the CCNR by way of an underground tunnel, while in the second option, the line would be constructed underground along the perimeter of the reserve. The CRL is expected to be operational by 2030.
Khaw also said that the CRL, which will connect commuters from Changi to the Jurong Industrial Estate, will have more than 30 new stations with 600,000 daily trips made.
At almost every other station, commuters can switch to another line, which will “significantly enhance” the resilience of the network, Khaw said.
He reminded the House that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) focuses on just a section of the CRL, while the ministry has a duty to study the total impact of the line. This includes a study on the environmental impact, effect on taxpayers and potential home acquisitions.
The government has no estimation on the total cost of the project currently as more studies have to be made, Khaw said. Such studies usually take four to five years to be completed, he added.
On whether Singapore should opt for the skirting alignment to serve the residents living in the vicinity, Khaw said that the existing Circle Line and the upcoming Thomson Line will be available to serve them.
Changes to ground investigation methods to reduce environmental impact
Desmond Lee, senior minister of state for the ministry of national development, told Parliament that drilling machines used to create boreholes to collect rock and soil samples have been modified to reduce noise levels.
Ground investigators will be required to conduct checks only during the day so as to avoid disturbing the nocturnal animals in the reserve. These investigators will also be required to use handheld equipment to manually collect data in the forests to make up for the planned reduction in the number of boreholes from 72 to 16.
The geophysical survey has been limited to a 100-meter wide corridor, and will not be carried out at streams, swamps and dense vegetation, said Lee.
Investigators will be supervised by the National Park Board to make sure they adhere to the measures, he added.
First time being at this event. Great job to the organisers putting this event together. Most people will be surprised that there are so many farmers in Singapore.
The Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR) is home to 400 species of trees, 200 species of birds, 400 species of insects and 150 species of mammals and amphibians. If you’d like to learn more about the biodiversity found in the CCNR, please do sign up for our walks! Find out more: https://lovemacritchie.wordpress.com/why/
The EIA (Environmental Impact Analysis) was released by the LTA on the 5th Feb.
It is some form of success. Although LTA will want to drill holes in the reserve but they will now consider the concerns of nature groups.
So this is the update from LTA:
Reduce the number of boreholes from 72 to 16;
Confine drilling to public trails and non-vegetative areas; and
Employ more non-intrusive (no physical alteration) methods in soil investigation.
All is not lost - you can still do something - collectively we can still do something to help the cause according to BES Drongo website.
"
The EIA will be open for public viewing for the next 4 weeks;book an appointment to go down and view it.
Help spread the news and raise awareness! Tell your friends, your family or anyone who you know cares about this. If lots of people go down to view the EIA, it will show LTA how much the public cares.
Voice your support for the alternative route. The alternative route is now our best (and last) bet to reduce significant impacts on the forest.
You can contact LTA [Ms Michelle Chan (email LTA_CRL_CCNR_EIA@lta.gov.sg or call 6295 7437)] to view the EIA and give your feedback. Please note that you can view it by appointment ONLY, at Land Transport Authority, 1 Hampshire Road (Blk 11 Level 4, Room 2), Singapore 219428
In addition, to show your support for the alternative route, you can sign the petition here: http://www.tinyurl.com/lta-crl
Seriously, WTF. This is just bad and sad news. I remember watching a documentary about this Tiger Temple. So this new investigative video came out quite recently (Jan 2016). I document the aricle here.
Video Evidence Links Thailand’s Tiger Temple To Wildlife Trafficking
Nat Geo and Cee4Life release proof that the commercial trade has been active for over a decade.
TEXT:
NGT STAFF
POSTED ON: JANUARY 22, 2016 12:00 AM
Wildlife activists have long accused Thailand’s Tiger Temple (2 hours from Bangkok) of exploiting its captive big cats, a claim that has been vehemently denied by the monks, and ignored by its steady inflow of visitors. New evidence reveals that the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Temple has been engaging in illegal cross-border tiger trafficking, as reported in aNational Geographic exclusive by photographer Steve Winter and writer Sharon Guynup, both conservation journalists. Their special investigation video has footage and interviews that implicate the controversial temple in the illegal trade. As Guynup puts it, what this means, is that “the tiger that you took a selfie with one day could end up dead and smuggled across the border the next.”
The National Geographic investigators found that the Buddhist monastery and popular tourist draw has been smuggling tigers to farms in neighbouring Laos at least since 2004, under the guidance of its founder and leader, Abbot Phra Acham Phoosit (Chan) Kanthitharo. In a recent internal letter to National Geographic Traveller India, Guynup revealed that Thai authorities will begin relocating the temple’s tigers to its own wildlife facilities, with the Royal Thai Police taking over the investigation in the next few weeks.
The Tiger Temple draws in an estimated three million dollars a year and currently houses 147 tigers, a big draw for visitors who feed, walk and take selfies with the captive animals for a hefty fee. Last December, Steve Winter and Sharon Guynup were tipped off by documents, audio and video released by Australian nonprofit Cee4Life, the culmination of a nine-year investigation that was made public on 22 Jan 2016.
“The impact of illegal trading from a captive facility like the Tiger Temple extends far beyond the lives and welfare of these 147 tigers,” Guynup wrote in her letter. “Captive tigers leaked into the illegal trade from any source feed a growing demand for luxury tiger products, including tiger skins and tiger bone wine. That demand places the lives of every one of the world’s last 3,200 wild tigers in danger. As tiger expert Judy Mills notes at the end of our video, ‘This is not just about a single Buddhist temple in Thailand. This is about the fate of wild tigers.’”
I found this article sometime ago. Almost forgot about it... this should go into the Bukit Brown Index... so I archive here first. Yes, we are starving for roads and malls. WTF!
Land-starved Singapore exhumes its cemeteries to build roads and malls
The tiny city-state has dug up hundreds of thousands of graves to pave the way for roads, houses and shopping centres. As Singapore celebrates 50 years of independence, conservationists argue heritage need not be sacrificed to progress
Kirsten Han in Singapore
Overgrown and littered with dead leaves, Bukit Brown cemetery does not feature in many tourist guides to Singapore. But its 200 hectares are one of the island’s few green spaces, home to a quarter of the bird species - and the final resting place for more than 100,000 people. Yet its days might be numbered. Over 3,700 of those 100,000 graves have now been exhumed, to make way for an eight-lane highway that will cut the cemetery in half.
This gruesome business is nothing new. In Singapore, hundreds of thousands of bodies have already been hauled up from the ground to pave the way for malls, roads and apartment blocks. The entire city-state of Singapore covers a mere 71,830 hectares, less than half the size of Greater London, so land is always at a premium here - and the needs of the dead generally give way to that of the living.
As the country marks 50 years since independence with a weekend of golden jubilee celebrations, however, questions are finally asked about how to preserve what little heritage Singapore has left. In a city where many buildings are brand-new, cemeteries are a rare link to the past. What’s more, as the exhumations continue, the custom of visiting and worshipping at an ancestor’s tomb – once so integral to Chinese culture – is starting to become unfamiliar to Singapore’s Chinese population.
Authorities say digging up Bukit Brown for the road will ease congestion from the Pan-Island Expressway, the first step towards further development of the area: the Ministry of National Development (MND) is considering converting all of Bukit Brown into housing by 2030. The exhumed remains are either reinterred in smaller plots, or cremated, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA). Relatives can then visit their ancestors at the shared plots or at various columbaria.
Only one cemetery is still open for burial at all: for between S$315 to S$940 (£146 to £435) per adult, you can be buried at Chua Chu Kang cemetery, in a less developed part of western Singapore. But, as with most things in the city-state, there’s an expiry date. Under the New Burial Policy of 1998, you can lease a plot only for a maximum of 15 years. (In Hong Kong, another similarly sized city, the problem is even worse: urns filled with ashes often sit in funeral parlours for months while waiting for the next available spot at a public columbarium, and the maximum burial period is just six years.)
Next to be exhumed in Chua Chu Kang is part of the Chinese section, with graves buried between 1947 to 1975. Relatives have been asked to claim the remains of family members before the end of July next year. The NEA said they did not know about any future plans for the area.
The country’s political leaders have often cited the challenge of balancing competing urban interests. In a statement, an MND spokesperson said: “The government needs to prioritise the use of our land for various needs such as housing, green spaces, utilities, transportation, ports and airports and amenities to support the functions of a nation. ... The bulk of Bukit Brown Cemetery will only be developed in the longer term.”
In 1978, there were 213 burial grounds on 2,146 hectares in Singapore, or about 3.7% of the island. Many were already facing clearance even then. Minister EW Barker told parliament that “over the next few years, all private cemeteries… which have been closed for burials, will be acquired as and when required for development.”
Since then, dozens of cemeteries have been lost. Prime among them was Bidadari cemetery, which served Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sinhalese communities. Many notable people were buried there, including Augustine Podmore Williams, an English mariner on the SS Jeddah, whose story inspired Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim.
Bidadari Cemetery was cleared between 2001 and 2006, in an operation that exhumed 58,000 Christian and 68,000 Muslim graves. In its place, the government is building a new town, complete with an underground, air-conditioned bus interchange and the city’s first underground service reservoir. The first public housing flats will go on sale this September.
Even the city’s main shopping belt, Orchard Road, is built on a former graveyard that was dug up. Ngee Ann City, a looming brown building that’s home to a major department store and up-market boutiques, marks the location of what used to be the largest Teochew community cemetery on the island. Now the gleaming mall generates revenue for Ngee Ann Kongsi, a charitable organisation for the Chinese Teochew community, allowing them to fund programmes in education.
Just a little down the road, Orchard Residences – a fancy private condominium built above the ION Orchard mall – is also built on what used to be Teochew grave sites. Four-bedroom, three-bathroom units in Orchard go for up to S$11m (£5m).
Conservationists are hoping to save Bukit Brown from going down this path. They say the cemetery should remain a free, public space, not be converted into an exclusive zone for the rich.
Norman Cho’s great-uncle Tan Kay Tiang occupies one of the graves that will be exhumed in Bukit Brown. Tan died in 1938, many years before his grandchildren – who are now in their 60s – were born. The grandchildren “were not particularly enthusiastic about the exhumation,” Cho said. So he stepped in to claim his great-uncle’s remains and cremate them.
“I did so with his great-granchildren in mind,” he said. “In a way, I try to preserve the memory of the man for his descendants.”
Khoo Ee Hoon, who volunteers to contact the descendants of people buried in Chua Chu Kang cemetery in the hopes that they will claim the remains upon exhumation, says many are not interested. “They no longer feel the anguish or the pain” associated with ancestors from three or four generations back, she said. Although many Chinese Singaporean families continue to visit cemeteries and columbaria during the Qingming festival, many others no longer follow such traditions.
“The whole cemetery culture is already gone,” says Darren Koh, a volunteer guide with All Things Bukit Brown, a group who organise guided walks through the cemetery. “The idea of worshipping or honouring the Earth deity first before you go to the grave, it’s gone. How many people on our tour had actually visited a cemetery before?”
This ever-growing estrangement from the “culture” of cemeteries has led to burial being seen as a waste of space in Singapore. Moreover, now that remains are almost certain to be exhumed eventually, more people are opting for cremation in the first place. In 2011, 80% of those who died chose cremation – almost everyone, in other words, except for people whose religions specifically dictate burial, such as Muslims, Baha’i and Parsees.
The activists of All Things Bukit Brown (they call themselves Brownies) hope to increase awareness of the cemetery’s ecological diversity and historical wealth, so Singaporeans can better decide if the space is worth conserving when it faces being dug up even further. The history contained in places like Bukit Brown is what gives Singaporeans a sense of belonging, Koh says.
“The difference between a home and a luxury suite at the W Hotel are the memories,” he said. “If you keep digging up all the memories that remain in a particular location, it may be the most beautiful place in the world but it will become a hotel room.”
It’s easy to see what Koh means about memories about Bukit Brown: the graves, which date back to 1833 and are arranged following Chinese beliefs in feng shuirather than in strict rows, are home to businessmen, manual labourers, industrialists and revolutionaries. “So much history is left uncovered here. If we lose all of this, will we ever get it back again?” Koh said.
Conservationists argue that Singaporeans shouldn’t always be required to choose between preserving cemeteries and the country’s development. Citing the example of how cemeteries in other cities such as Kuala Lumpur have been converted to heritage parks, Koh says alternative solutions can always be found, allowing Singapore to continue advancing while also preserving its history.
As we walk towards the old gates of Bukit Brown, now ringed by a construction site, Koh gestures with his walking stick towards the remaining tombs. “Romantically put, until the last grave is dug out I think we’ll still guide, because there’s a lot of history that we want to make sure we can save.”
