Suhani's SAS Blog

Kostof defines a city as a place where "a certain energized crowding of people takes place." To me, no other place exemplifies this like Singapore does. Orchard Road, for example, highlights Singapore's people-to-space ratio and how crowds convene together in one location in the heart of the city. Furthermore, while reading Kostof's piece, I couldn't help but think back to the last blog post on modernism; his point (H) on monumental and distinct framework is seen directly in Singapore through its landmark skyline and features, built as significant forms to the area. But I did find another one of his points (B) quite contrasting to Singapore. Kostof mentioned that cities come in clusters and that within a city there are other towns that contribute to the creation of an urban hierarchy. However, perhaps due to Singapore's small size, I failed to see that here; in a way, though, the smaller districts and areas within Singapore create makeshift towns with an order...

Singapore is a city renowned for its futuristic and advanced urban infrastructure. Stemming from its architecture leaning on historic British ideals in places like Raffles Place, Singapore's skyline has seen a large amount of change in recent years, with modernism directly contributing to this. The new skyline Singapore boasts is a direct contrast to the Gregorian, minimalistic style previously seen. Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin,  as seen above, shows orderly buildings alike to one another. Like Le Corbusier outlined in his modernistic urban planning approach, Singapore has orderly rows and conforming buildings like the government-built HDBs. These span across the realm of the island and are an example of the effects of modernism. Along with uniformity in its structure, modernism has also influenced Singapore to build notably unique structures, that are now known globally. Places like Marina Bay Sands exhibit this opposite end of the spectrum, exemplifying the more unique and ico...

Though the industrial revolution undoubtedly led to the positive urbanization of cities, it also caused negative and unappealing aspects of cities to arise. For one, the living conditions for the working class became poor. With packed, cramped housing founded in the rubble of old houses, workers' quarters lacked room and were often surrounded by bars specifically catered to the working class. Narrow alleyways and features as such also further reinforced the wealth divide that the revolution fostered. These buildings/housing departments were also seemingly designed as an afterthought, smushed into the first area of open space applicable. Instead of being designed around the working-class citizens, cities revolved around trade and commerce, sometimes leading to inaccessible and inconvenient working quarters. Furthermore, the population surge that came with the revolution invariably caused pollution of the surrounding areas of a city; canals and streams were unsanitary and contaminate...