Singapore

Two hundred years ago, Sir Stamford Raffles established the modern settlement of Singapore with the intent of seeing it become ‘a great commercial emporium and fulcrum’. But by the time independence was achieved in 1965, the city faced daunting problems of housing shortage, slums and high unemployment. Since then, Singapore has become one of the richest countries on earth, providing, in Sir Peter Hall’s words, ‘perhaps the most extraordinary case of economic development in the history of the world’. The story of Singapore’s remarkable achievements in the first half century after its independence is now widely known. In Planning Singapore: The Experimental City, Stephen Hamnett and Belinda Yuen have brought together a set of chapters on Singapore’s planning achievements, aspirations and challenges, which are united in their focus on what might happen next in the planning of the island-state. Chapters range over Singapore’s planning system, innovation and future economy, housing, biodiversity, water and waste, climate change, transport, and the potential transferability of Singapore’s planning knowledge. A key question is whether the planning approaches, which have served Singapore so well until now, will suffice to meet the emerging challenges of a changing global economy, demographic shifts, new technologies and the existential threat of climate change. Singapore as a global city is becoming more unequal and more diverse. This has the potential to weaken the social compact which has largely existed since independence and to undermine the social resilience undoubtedly needed to cope with the shocks and disruptions of the twenty-first century. The book concludes, however, that Singapore is better-placed than most to respond to the challenges which it will certainly face thanks to its outstanding systems of planning and implementation, a proven capacity to experiment and a highly developed ability to adapt quickly, purposefully and pragmatically to changing circumstances.

Modern Singapore is a miracle. Half a century ago it unwillingly became an independent nation, after it was thrown out of the Malay Federation. It was tiny, poor, almost devoid of resources, and in a hostile neighborhood. Now, this unlikely country is at the top of almost every global national index, from high wealth and low crime to superb education and much-envied stability. But have these achievements bred a dangerous sense of complacency among Singapore's people? Nicholas Walton walked across the entire country in one day, to grasp what it was that made Singapore tick, and to understand the challenges that it now faces. Singapore, Singapura teases out the island's story, from mercantilist Raffles and British colonial rule, through the war years, to independence and the building of the current miracle. There are challenges ahead, from public complacency and the constraints of authoritarian democracy to changing geographic realities and the difficulties of balancing migration in such a tiny state. Singapore's second half-century will be just as exacting as the one since independence--as Walton warns, talk of a "Singapore model" for our hyper-globalized world must face these realities.

For most of us, work is a basic daily fact of life. But that simple fact encompasses an incredibly wide range of experiences. Hard at Work takes readers into the day-to-day work experiences of more than fifty working people in Singapore who hold jobs that run from the ordinary to the unusual: from ice cream vendors, baristas, police officers and funeral directors to academic ghostwriters, temple flower sellers, and Thai disco girl agents. Through first-person narratives based on detailed interviews, vividly augmented with color photographs, Hard at Work reminds us of the everyday labor that continually goes on around us, and that every job can reveal something interesting if we just look closely enough. It shows us too the ways inequalities of status and income are felt and internalized in this highly globalized society.

The definitive guide to place names in Singapore. Place names tell us much about a country – its history, its landscape, its people, its aspirations, its self-image. The study of place names, ‘toponymics’, unlocks the myriad interlocking stories that are encoded in every street and landmark. In Singapore, the coexistence of various races, cultures and languages, as well as its history of colonisation, immigration and nationalism, have given rise to a complex tapestry of place names. Alkaff Quay, Coleman Bridge, Ann Siang Hill, Bukit Merah – how did these places get their names? Nee Soon or Yishun? Serangoon Road or Tekka? First published in 2003 as Toponymics, this updated and expanded edition of the book incorporates a wealth of new findings, from archival research and interviews, and sets out to answer these questions – and any question that might be asked about the origin, meaning or significance of place names in Singapore

We Visit Singapore takes middle school students on a wonderful journey to the Asian country of Singapore. The book is written in a lively and interesting style that makes Singapore come alive. The title contains Singapore's history, geography, conflicts, culture, religions, politics, economy, and most importantly contemporary life in the country today. The country's vital statistics, timeline, place in the world, and a native recipe and craft are included. The book has been developed to address many of the Common Core specific goals, higher level thinking skills, and progressive learning strategies from informational texts for middle grade and junior high level students.

This book presents a collection of essays of how the city-state of Singapore's societal dynamics have evolved from the time of its birth as a nation in 1965 to the present. Key areas of Singapore society are explored, contributing to the understanding of the social organisation of the city. This study reveals a shift from the modernisation studies in the 1970s to a more political-economic turn, as a consequence of the influence of dependency and world systems theories. Topics covered include: urban studies, family, education, medical care, class and social stratification, work, language, ethnic groups, religion and crime and deviance.