Singapore has embraced a relentless drive to develop and modernise and little has stood in the way of development. We have seen countless old streets and buildings get swallowed up by urban planning. For decades, the common consensus was that conservation of historical infrastructure and even of the natural environment hindered progress. In recent years, however, conservation has gained many supporters among the public and even among the urban planners themselves. While there is still a clear, common understanding that pursuing economic viability is key to our survival, there are increasing attempts to conserve more of our heritage through preserving historic and cultural sites and artefacts due to Singapore’s constant and stable economic development. In fact, conservation, when planned properly and done well, complements the development of Singapore, rather than hinder any progress.
Economic development is crucial for our survival and as a country with land scarcity; conservation can, render large tracts of land unusable for further development and can potentially hamper the progress of Singapore. This was especially the case in the early years after independence when conservation was not explicitly emphasized as development took precedence. Singapore demolished many historic buildings and cleared large tracts of forested areas to make way for modern skyscrapers. The notion then was that conservation definitely hindered the development of Singapore into a modern city-state and that there was a greater need to demolish degraded built infrastructure, reduce poverty, and unemployment by building public housing and factories. Calls to conserve the Bukit Brown Cemetery that was rich in historical and natural heritage was not completely ignored, since currently, only parts of it are being demolished to make way for a highway to ease the bad traffic congestion in the area. However, the plan in some 30 to 40 years is to develop a housing estate on the ground where the cemetery currently stands. Even today with greater recognition of the need to reinforce and integrate past heritage with present developments in Singapore, pragmatism still overrides. Hence, conservation is still seen as a hindrance to development and the needs of the people such as housing takes precedence over conservation especially when land space is limited.
However, with careful planning and consideration, conservation can be made viable for everyone and does not necessarily hamper the development of Singapore. If the old does not go, there is no space left for the new and so some people assume that conservation and progress cannot coexist. However, it is possible to strike a balance between the two, especially if old, heritage structures are repurposed for new uses. Staunch conservationists may decry that such conservation is often piecemeal, leaving us clinging onto facades while the rest of a building gets hacked off. However, for practical reasons, a compromise between historic preservation and demolition has to be struck. Adaptive use of historical buildings by modernising and preserving old establishments, which could have been in a dilapidated state after having suffered the ravages of time, marries the needs of conservation and urban development. For instance, traditional shophouses which used to serve as warehouses along the historic Boat Quay area now house restaurants and businesses. Boat Quay is still vibrant today, though now transformed into a shopping and eating paradise instead of being an industrial area. The current National Gallery of Singapore was also the former Supreme Court and City Hall. And it is currently one of the most famous tourist attractions. Hence, it is possible for conservation and development to coexist when slight modernisation can be done to preserve certain historical value.
Increasingly, there is a belief that heritage and identity can play an important role in Singapore’s efforts to construct a modern city, so as to leverage the economic benefits of conservation. Urban researchers worldwide are arguing that culture is the business of cities and the basis of their competitive advantage. Conservation strengthens a city’s symbolic images and also opens new opportunities for the economy. Culture and tourism are interdependent and cultural resources can be developed into new tourist products. To woo tourists to Singapore, historical sites such as Chinatown and Kampong Glam, which showcase our multicultural, multi-ethnic history, have been conserved. Tourism is one of the growing pillars of Singapore’s economic growth. Travel brochures have begun to describe Singapore as a city where ‘east meets west’ and ancient traditions blend with modernity. Hence, the economic pragmatism of some forms of conservation especially in terms of heritage areas with tourism value has seen a new emphasis on incorporating conservation in the development of Singapore.