Singapore's changing waterfront

It's been a while since I've gone back to Singapore - 3 years? Yet I hardly recognize some of these pictures, courtesy of my fellow geographer Hanglu.
National Day show - how can you have that view, and not be proud of your country's progress??"







The Singapore Flyer - was NOT there 3 years ago.















Under construction, the new "Integrated Resort" - a euphemism for a casino which Singapore clearly opposed for decades until recently. This is probably the highest concentration of construction cranes I've ever seen per square km. The waterfront you see here I think is the main river, Singapore River. This is pretty close to the mouth, Marina Bay. The last time I went back home they were planning to close off the Bay to partially augment Singapore's fresh water supply (yes, for drinking).

I'm amazed at the pace of progress in Singapore. Compared to how long things can take to get done here in SF/Bay Area, I can't help but contrast the political system underlying each place that determines in a big way how things run. When a project is proposed here, it has to go through so many rounds of community participation, environmental review, etc processes. When it's a public project, people WILL get pissed if the process isn't done right. Even for a private project, developers expect that people will get pissed, and want to do it right from the start and make sure the surrounding community does not feel trampled upon. Yes, it slows down "progress" and costs a lot more, and probably shaves off the profit margin for private projects and makes investment not as attractive as, say, in Singapore. But the resulting project is something most people are happy with, or at least okay with because they've had their say and presumably satisfactory responses...

Singapore's centralized mode of operation plays a big role in its superfastpace of progress. A friend who works in one of the government agencies was telling me, "In Singapore, top brass wants everything done by yesterday." This was in response to my telling her about Ecocity Builders' Strawberry Creek Plaza project in downtown Berkeley, a project ten years in the making which takes finetuned political savvy to navigate through various government, business and citizen stakeholders. Along with the still ongoing, sometimes prickly Downtown Area Plan process, after meetings and events showcasing the project and getting people's input, after nights of signs-holding in the City Council chambers, some of the ideas viewed as "dreamy" ten years ago are slowly becoming accepted. The landscape architect (Walter Hood, who also did the De Young Museum) for the project presented at the Planning Commission meeting last month, almost everyone applauded it, satisfied with how the project addressed many people's concerns about moving utilities, parking, businesses, emergency access, delivery vehicles, etc.

The project is probably at the extreme end of the spectrum to what could happen in Singapore, in terms of the political environment within which it operates. Some might think it would be so satisfying to work in Singapore as a planner or architect, to be able to see your work materialize so soon into your career. I'm not sure I can go back and operate in that system, though. From my brief experience living and working there, it would require me to take strict orders with no room for negotiation, to be a perfectionist robot that assembles meticulously, which I know I'm capable of doing, but am not prepared to do.