The Origins of Urban Renewal in Singapore: A Transnational History. (January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dobbs, Stephen; Loh, Kah Seng
• Is Part Of: Journal of urban history. Volume 49:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 60
• Page End: 84
• Publication Date: 2023-01
• Subjects: urban renewal -- Singapore -- transnational history; Cities and towns -- History -- Periodicals; 909.09732
• DOI: 10.1177/0096144220985521
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0096-1442

Abstract

This article examines the origins of urban renewal in Singapore through a transnational history lens. It focuses on the role in particular of two United Nations–led teams of experts one headed by Erik Lorange and the other by Charles Abrams in the early 1960s and the impact these had on how urban renewal proceeded in Singapore's central city area. This approach broadens the focus to encompass more than just the role played by Singapore's Housing and Development Board and Urban Renewal Authority which dominates much of the existing scholarship. In doing so it finds that there was much more agreement between these international experts and their visions of a modern city and that of the Singaporean agencies and individuals tasked with implementing renewal.