22 - Recovering from the “Promethean Hangover”? Critical Reflections on the Remaking of Singapore as a Global City

Summary

Our most important task at the present moment is to build castles in the air.

— Lewis Mumford

After its monumental achievement, Singapore now suffers a Promethean hangover. A sense of anticlimax is palpable. The “finished” Barthian state is grasping for new themes, new metaphors, new signs to superimpose on its luxurious substance.

— Rem Koolhaas

THE GLOBAL CITY RACE

In the 2005 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered his national day speech at the University Cultural Centre against a stage backdrop that depicted a panoramic view of the future skyline of the new downtown at Marina Bay. Not coincidentally, the 2007 National Day Parade was staged on a giant floating platform in the bay area, set against the physical background of the emerging Marina Bay mega development. Apparently, the decision for selecting Marina Bay as the thematic backdrop for both national events was deliberate and even symbolically significant as the new downtown represents, in the words of the Prime Minister, the “sparkling jewel” and “signature image of Singapore” in the global era.

Singapore, however, is not alone in such a fervent drive to project the global prominence of its new downtown on the world stage. Urban places in recent decades have experienced dramatic transformations as they adjust to new economic, social, and political imperatives and challenges brought about by globalization. More specifically, the intensification of global economic competition between cities, countries, and regions has engendered a new “place war” pitting different localities in a neck-to-neck competition to capture increasingly footloose capital and global talent. While successful global cities have often been characterized as premium “command and control nodes” in the global economy with a high concentration of advanced producer services, cities with global aspirations and ambitions are also reimaging themselves with attractive skylines and spectacular urban landscape in what Robinson calls “city-visioning” — a series of high profile developmental projects and initiatives aimed at envisaging the future of the city in an effort to boost its world city ranking and global status.