IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v60y2023i15p3045-3060.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Naming public transport and historicising experiences: Critical toponymies and everyday multilingualism in Singapore’s mass rapid transit system

Author

Listed:
  • Shaun Tyan Gin Lim

    (Independent Researcher, Singapore)

  • Francesco Perono Cacciafoco

    (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Abstract

Public transport plays an integral role in urban centres by promoting economic development, mitigating environmental degradation and fostering social cohesion. It also enables users to experience the socio-cultural and linguistic diversity of a locality. Public transport is important to the cosmopolitan city-state of Singapore: its public transport system, which is ranked among the best in the world, is used by over 7.54 million passengers daily. Nevertheless, not much is known about how the linguistic landscapes, soundscapes and place names are tied to public transport use and encounters. This study analyses Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station names, effectively toponyms (place names) in their own right. Specifically, it focuses on the East West and North South Lines, two of Singapore’s oldest MRT lines. Besides tracing the (initially) tumultuous history of the MRT system, the paper studies the languages used in the MRT stations of both lines. It argues that place names, taken together with the sights and sounds of the MRT, are part of everyday multilingualism, or the linguistic dynamism when different linguistic groups occupy public spaces. This paper also explores some of the linguistic, socio-political and policy making considerations behind the MRT stations through a critical toponymic perspective. From the viewpoint of the special issue’s interests, the paper contributes to understanding the historicisation of Singapore’s rail system and its contesting political and economic choices when developing the MRT.

Suggested Citation

  • Shaun Tyan Gin Lim & Francesco Perono Cacciafoco, 2023. "Naming public transport and historicising experiences: Critical toponymies and everyday multilingualism in Singapore’s mass rapid transit system," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(15), pages 3045-3060, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:60:y:2023:i:15:p:3045-3060
    DOI: 10.1177/00420980221109101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00420980221109101
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00420980221109101?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. Lasse Koefoed & Mathilde Dissing Christensen & Kirsten Simonsen, 2017. "Mobile encounters: bus 5A as a cross-cultural meeting place," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(5), pages 726-739, September.
    2. Duncan Light & Craig Young, 2015. "Toponymy as Commodity: Exploring the Economic Dimensions of Urban Place Names," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 435-450, May.
    3. Kristian Olesen, 2020. "Infrastructure imaginaries: The politics of light rail projects in the age of neoliberalism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(9), pages 1811-1826, July.
    4. Soi Lam & Trinh Toan, 2006. "Land Transport Policy and Public Transport in Singapore," Transportation, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 171-188, March.
    5. Dorina Pojani & Dominic Stead, 2015. "Sustainable Urban Transport in the Developing World: Beyond Megacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-22, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tauri Tuvikene & Wladimir Sgibnev & Wojciech Kȩbłowski & Jason Finch, 2023. "Public transport as public space: Introduction," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(15), pages 2963-2978, November.

    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. Majumder, Suman & De, Krishnarti & Kumar, Praveen & Sengupta, Bodhisattva & Biswas, Pabitra Kumar, 2021. "Techno-commercial analysis of sustainable E-bus-based public transit systems: An Indian case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Ali Enes Dingil & Federico Rupi & Domokos Esztergár-Kiss, 2021. "An Integrative Review of Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Travel Decision-Making and Urban Transport Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Noah Kaiser & Christina K. Barstow, 2022. "Rural Transportation Infrastructure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Impacts, Implications, and Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-48, February.
    4. Rohit Sharma, 2018. "Financing Indian Urban Rail through Land Development: Case Studies and Implications for the Accelerated Reduction in Oil Associated with 1.5 °C," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(2), pages 21-34.
    5. Milenković, Marina & Glavić, Draženko & Maričić, Milica, 2019. "Determining factors affecting congestion pricing acceptability," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 58-74.
    6. Hui Zheng & Baohong He & Mingwei He & Jinghui Guo, 2022. "Impact of Urban Spatial Transformation on the Mobility of Commuters with Different Transportation Modes in China: Evidence from Kunming 2011–2016," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Yaxin Fan & Xinyan Zhu & Bing She & Wei Guo & Tao Guo, 2018. "Network-constrained spatio-temporal clustering analysis of traffic collisions in Jianghan District of Wuhan, China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-23, April.
    8. Canitez, Fatih, 2019. "Pathways to sustainable urban mobility in developing megacities: A socio-technical transition perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 319-329.
    9. Deyas, Gebeyew T. & Woldeamanuel, Mintesnot G., 2020. "Social and economic impacts of public transportation on adjacent communities: The case of the Addis Ababa light rail transit," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    10. Thanh Tung Ha & Thanh Chuong Nguyen & Sy Sua Tu & Minh Hieu Nguyen, 2023. "Investigation of Influential Factors of Intention to Adopt Electric Vehicles for Motorcyclists in Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    11. Solomon Oisasoje Ayo-Odifiri & Aruna Osigbemhe Alasa & Ngbede Ogoh & Obafemi Tijjsheg Obajina & Rosemary Chinonye Emeana, 2021. "Traffic Management Concept of Sustainable City Development in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(07), pages 83-89, July.
    12. Changhee Kim & Soo Wook Kim & Hee Jay Kang & Seung-Min Song, 2017. "What Makes Urban Transportation Efficient? Evidence from Subway Transfer Stations in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-18, November.
    13. Kain Glensor, 2018. "Development of an Index of Transport-User Vulnerability, and its Application in Enschede, The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-12, July.
    14. Hasselwander, Marc & Bigotte, Joao F. & Antunes, Antonio P. & Sigua, Ricardo G., 2022. "Towards sustainable transport in developing countries: Preliminary findings on the demand for mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) in Metro Manila," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 501-518.
    15. Batara Surya & Hamsina Hamsina & Ridwan Ridwan & Baharuddin Baharuddin & Firman Menne & Andi Tenri Fitriyah & Emil Salim Rasyidi, 2020. "The Complexity of Space Utilization and Environmental Pollution Control in the Main Corridor of Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-41, November.
    16. Paweł Pistelok & Daniel Štraub, 2021. "Evaluation of the Road Policy in the Light of Vision Zero in Jaworzno, Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.
    17. Preeti Devi & Bartłomiej Kizielewicz & Abhishek Guleria & Andrii Shekhovtsov & Jarosław Wątróbski & Tomasz Królikowski & Jakub Więckowski & Wojciech Sałabun, 2022. "Decision Support in Selecting a Reliable Strategy for Sustainable Urban Transport Based on Laplacian Energy of T -Spherical Fuzzy Graphs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    18. Silvia Stuchi & Sonia Paulino & Faïz Gallouj, 2022. "Social Innovation in Active Mobility Public Services in the Megacity of Sao Paulo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
    19. Apantri Peungnumsai & Hiroyuki Miyazaki & Apichon Witayangkurn & Sohee Minsun Kim, 2020. "A Grid-Based Spatial Analysis for Detecting Supply–Demand Gaps of Public Transports: A Case Study of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-27, December.
    20. Uğur Baç, 2020. "An Integrated SWARA-WASPAS Group Decision Making Framework to Evaluate Smart Card Systems for Public Transportation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-24, October.

    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:60:y:2023:i:15:p:3045-3060. 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.