Volumetric urbanism: The production and extraction of Singaporean territory

This paper examines how state territorial development strategies, financial and regulatory practices and architectural and engineering expertise shape ‘volumetric’ urban space. In doing so, it frames the built environment as being an envelope through which state accumulation strategies are materialized through both the technical manipulation of territory and the metrics that accompany it. It focuses on a key site of post-Independence Singaporean urbanism, the Marina Bay area, to examine how dimensional urban development has been combined with governance practices to produce and extract new territory. The paper illustrates this through three processes: the engineering of land platforms that could be developed to expand the logistical productivity of Singaporean territory; the deployment of ‘atmospheric engineering’ such as the use of air-conditioning technologies in creating controlled environments that maximize the value of interiorized territory; and the creation of a calculative regime for governing underground space. It describes how Singaporean state agencies have deployed experts in engineering, surveying and architecture, as well as implementing new legislation and regulation in producing these volumetric affordances. It is argued in conclusion that the calculative manipulation of key sites in the built environments of global cities such as Singapore should be accorded more significance within studies of nation-state territorial strategy, and the geopolitics of cities.