Hard State, Soft City of Singapore, Hardcover by Chung, Simone Shu-yeng (EDT); Douglass, Mike (EDT), ISBN 946372950X, ISBN-13 9789463729505, Like New Used, Free shipping in the US

Timeliness: Discussions and exchanges for this edited volume were intentionally engendered right after passing of the founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's SG50 landmark anniversary, and the national general elections of 2015. This is an especially timely moment that captures critical reflections about the half century-long gestation of Singapore's independence and to engage new conversations about alternative futures. Interdisciplinarity: By combining different strands of knowledge from scholars and professionals in their respective fields, new insights emerge from the ensuing discussions. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary for the reader to achieve a holistic understanding of the mechanisms and processes that drive the construction of imaginative renderings of Singapore. Merger of theory with practice: The contributors are scholars who are oftentimes practitioners directly involved in the issues they address, . design, art, poetry, urban farming, music as well as policy-making. They are thus best situated to substantiate their arguments through much valued practical perspectives informed by their own professional and personal experiences. With Singapore serving as the subject of exploration, <i>The Hard State, Soft City of Singapore</i> explores the purview of imaginative representations of the city. Alongside the physical structures and associated practices that make up our lived environment, and conceptualized space engineered into material form by bureaucrats, experts and commercial interests, a perceptual layer of space is conjured out of people’s everyday life experiences. While such imaginative projections may not be as tangible as its functional designations, they are nonetheless equally vital and palpable. The richness of its inhabitants’ memories, aspirations and meaningful interpretations challenges the reduction of Singapore as a Generic City. Taking the imaginative field as the point of departure, the forms and modes of intellectual and creative articulations of Singapore’s urban condition probe the resilience of cities and the people who reside in them, through the images they convey or evoke as a means for collective expressions of human agency in placemaking.