IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v53y2016i3p524-539.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘New uses need old buildings’: Gentrification aesthetics and the arts in Singapore

Author

Listed:
  • TC Chang

Abstract

The phrases ‘new uses need old buildings’ and ‘old buildings require new uses’ emphasise the mutually reinforcing relationships between historic buildings and new activities in cities. What the phrases do not say are the challenges and incompatibilities that are part of the urban redevelopment process. Singapore’s inner city has been transformed since the 1990s with the introduction of new economies. This paper focuses on one precinct that has undergone land use change – Little India. The concept of ‘gentrification aesthetics’ provides a suggestive frame to explore the form and outcome of urban change, as well as its contestations when new arts and cultural activities occupy historic buildings. Gentrification aesthetics as conceptualised in the West takes on different perspectives in Singapore, prompting questions on whether a ‘Singapore style gentrification’ is evolving – one that melds urban redevelopment with state ideology in arts enhancement and aesthetic regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • TC Chang, 2016. "‘New uses need old buildings’: Gentrification aesthetics and the arts in Singapore," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(3), pages 524-539, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:53:y:2016:i:3:p:524-539
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098014527482
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098014527482
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098014527482?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Bridge, 2006. "It's not Just a Question of Taste: Gentrification, the Neighbourhood, and Cultural Capital," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(10), pages 1965-1978, October.
    2. Rowland Atkinson, 2003. "Introduction: Misunderstood Saviour or Vengeful Wrecker? The Many Meanings and Problems of Gentrification," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(12), pages 2343-2350, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephan Gundel & Achim Hecker, 2006. "Funding and operation of stadiums and arenas beside high-class leagues," Working Papers 0604, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    2. Kleemann, Janina & Struve, Berenike & Spyra, Marcin, 2023. "Conflicts in urban peripheries in Europe," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Tim Butler, 2007. "Re‐urbanizing London Docklands: Gentrification, Suburbanization or New Urbanism?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 759-781, December.
    4. Justus Uitermark & Jan Willem Duyvendak, 2008. "Civilising the City: Populism and Revanchist Urbanism in Rotterdam," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(7), pages 1485-1503, June.
    5. Gregory Verdugo & Sorana Toma, 2018. "Can Public Housing Decrease Segregation? Lessons and Challenges From Non-European Immigration in France," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1803-1828, October.
    6. Pierre Courtioux & Tristan-Pierre Maury, 2020. "Private and public schools: A spatial analysis of social segregation in France," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(4), pages 865-882, March.
    7. Darren P Smith & Tim Butler, 2007. "Conceptualising the Sociospatial Diversity of Gentrification: ‘To Boldly Go’ into Contemporary Gentrified Spaces, the ‘Final Frontier’?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(1), pages 2-9, January.
    8. Thompson, Jamie & Taheri, Babak, 2020. "Capital deployment and exchange in volunteer tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    9. Sako Musterd & Wouter PC van Gent & Marjolijn Das & Jan Latten, 2016. "Adaptive behaviour in urban space: Residential mobility in response to social distance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(2), pages 227-246, February.
    10. Eleanor Wilkinson, 2016. "Let Us Devastate the Avenues Where the Wealthy Live’: Resisting Gentrification in the 21st Century City," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(3), pages 156-162, August.
    11. Gary Bridge & Tim Butler & Patrick Le Galès, 2014. "Power Relations and Social Mix in Metropolitan Neighbourhoods in North America and Europe: Moving Beyond Gentrification?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1133-1141, July.
    12. Darren P Smith & Louise Holt, 2007. "Studentification and ‘Apprentice’ Gentrifiers within Britain's Provincial Towns and Cities: Extending the Meaning of Gentrification," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(1), pages 142-161, January.
    13. Qiyan Wu & Xiaoling Zhang & Paul Waley, 2016. "Jiaoyufication: When gentrification goes to school in the Chinese inner city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(16), pages 3510-3526, December.
    14. Kate Shaw, 2008. "A Response to ‘The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research’," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 192-194, March.
    15. Kevin Fox Gotham, 2005. "Tourism Gentrification: The Case of New Orleans' Vieux Carre (French Quarter)," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(7), pages 1099-1121, June.
    16. Brian Doucet, 2020. "Deconstructing Dominant Narratives of Urban Failure and Gentrification in a Racially Unjust City: The Case of Detroit," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(4), pages 634-651, September.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1ck6j135a79b5pqdagv8visfep is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Mark Davidson & Loretta Lees, 2005. "New-Build ‘Gentrification’ and London's Riverside Renaissance," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(7), pages 1165-1190, July.
    19. Megan Nethercote, 2017. "When Social Infrastructure Deficits Create Displacement Pressures: Inner City Schools and the Suburbanization of Families in Melbourne," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 443-463, May.
    20. Willem R Boterman, 2012. "Residential Mobility of Urban Middle Classes in the Field of Parenthood," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(10), pages 2397-2412, October.
    21. Fenne M Pinkster & Matthieu Permentier & Karin Wittebrood, 2014. "Moving Considerations of Middle-Class Residents in Dutch Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: Exploring the Relationship between Disorder and Attachment," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(12), pages 2898-2914, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:53:y:2016:i:3:p:524-539. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.