The Change of Social Spaces within Chinese Settlements in Singapore under National Policies

Abstract

AbstractThis study looks at the process of change in social spaces in Chinese settlements in Singapore and seeks to understand the circumstances in which Singaporean national policies were carried out. The spatial construction of society is used as the basis for this research into the spatial politics of public housing in Singapore. The findings show that the government exercised the politics of spatial scale in resettlement schemes and housing programs to forge a new Singaporean community. The government saw a “mixed” social space of different social-economic groups and races as the local cradle of national consciousness. Unlike earlier research this study finds that the government intentionally broke up the enclaves as local units, along with the living mode of extended families and big families.