Renaissance City Singapore: a study of arts spaces

The study of 'arts spaces' has generally focused on physical spaces for the arts in the form of arts districts, cultural infrastructure and museum spaces. Apart from the provision of such physical spaces, we argue that the study of the arts should also focus on such aspects as the social environments and the creative spaces in which artists operate. Such a holistic approach not only facilitates an understanding of the myriad challenges artists face in society, but also opens greater research opportunities to geographers interested in the arts. Our case study of Singapore as a 'Global City for the Arts' provides insights into physical spaces of the arts as well as the social and creative environments in which the arts operate.     

The Interpretation of Segregation Indices in Context: The Case of P in Singapore

The article argues that the interpretation of segregation indices has been deeply conditioned by U.S. and U.K. studies. Using an empirical example of the P index on data pertaining to Singapore's public housing residents, the article investigates the “exposure” dimension of segregation for Singapore's three main ethnic groups: Chinese, Malay, and Indians/Others. While the figures yielded are low in comparison to those in Western studies, the article demonstrates that low index values are nonetheless sociologically significant. The figures generated for Malay isolation in higher–quality public housing were argued to be qualitatively different from those for Indian isolation in lower–quality public housing. The former demands an appreciation of household structure and kinship ties, while the latter involves atomized individuals in a highly urbanized setting. Blind application and interpretation of indices run the risk of coming to erroneous conclusions. A contextual approach is needed for a better appreciation of the diverse ways in which segregation is manifested and experienced.     

Spatial distribution,variation and trend of five-day antecedent rainfall in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the spatial distribution, variation and trend of 5-day antecedent rainfall in Singapore based on rainfall data from 22 meteorological stations. The effect of climate was analyzed by dividing the study period into three decades i.e. Decade 1: 1982–1991, Decade 2: 1992–2001 and Decade 3: 2002–2011. Kriging interpolation was used for rainfall mapping. The results show that spatial distribution of 5-day antecedent rainfall does not coincide with that of the annual rainfall. The maximum annual rainfall occurred in the northwestern side of Singapore. On the other hand, the maximum 5-day antecedent rainfall occurred in the north and northeastern sides. The results of this study suggest that the climate change has increased the amount of 5-day antecedent rainfall quite significantly, i.e. from 420.5 (1987) to 592.9 mm (2006), thus affecting the vulnerability of the area with respect to rainfall-induced slope failure. The analyses also showed that most of slope failures were located in the north and northeast of Singapore between December and earlier March. More slope failures were observed in Decade 3 as compared to Decades 1 and 2. In other words, the analysis confirmed that 5-day antecedent rainfall had affected the slope stability in Singapore.     

Prediction of the maximum credible ground motion in Singapore due to a great Sumatran subduction earthquake: the worst‐case scenario

Although Singapore is located in a low‐seismicity region, huge but infrequent Sumatran subduction earthquakes might pose structural problems to medium‐ and high‐rise buildings in the city. Based on a series of ground motion simulations of potential earthquakes that may affect Singapore, the 1833 Sumatran subduction earthquake (M_w=9.0) has been identified to be the worst‐case scenario earthquake. Bedrock motions in Singapore due to the hypothesized earthquake are simulated using an extended reflectivity method, taking into account uncertainties in source rupture process. Random rupture models, considering the uncertainties in rupture directivity, slip distribution, presence of asperities, rupture velocity and dislocation rise time, are made based on a range of seismologically possible models. The simulated bedrock motions have a very long duration of about 250 s with a predominant period between 1.8 and 2.5 s, which coincides with the natural periods of medium‐ and high‐rise buildings widely found in Singapore. The 90‐percentile horizontal peak ground acceleration is estimated to be 33 gal and the 90‐percentile horizontal spectral acceleration with 5% damping ratio is 100 gal within the predominant period range. The 90‐percentile bedrock motion would generate base shear force higher than that required by the current design code, where seismic design has yet to be considered. This has not taken into account effects of local soil response that might further amplify the bedrock motion. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An indirect method of determining magnitudes of erosion using the c/p' ratio

An approximate method is described for determining the maximum consolidating pressure in a hard, heavily overconsolidated fissured clay. From this, the overburden thickness producing the observed degree of consolidation has been calculated. The normal method of calculating preconsolidation pressure using an oedometer was not possible. The ratio c/p' is used in conjunction with the undrained shear strength. Values of c/p' are determined using empirical relationships with Atterberg Limit values. The results allow an overburden thickness to be calculated by assuming a value for unit weight.     

Enacting environmental justice in Singapore: Performative justice and the Green Volunteer Network

Environmental justice research has of late expanded beyond its’ original focus on the distribution of environmental ‘bads’ to debate injustices at a wide array of sites and scales. Despite this expansion, the applicability of an environmental justice framework to seemingly apolitical and banal expressions of environmental concerns remains open to question. This paper argues that environmental justice struggles can be located in the mundane environmental politics of Singapore, by employing a performative rather than rights-based approach to both justice and politics. It draws on qualitative research into volunteers’ practices in one Singaporean environmental organisation, and asserts that through their focus on experiential learning and re-inscribing ‘developmental’ spaces as spaces of care and justice, volunteers seek to redress the social, political and environmental injustices replete within the spatial politics of Singapore.     

Migration‐as‐development repackaged? The globalizing imperative of the Singaporean state's diaspora strategies

Diaspora strategizing is becoming an important field of public policy in countries that seek to advance development through migration. Diaspora strategies present a way of complicating interpretations of development, as countries that represent different levels of development seek to mobilize diaspora networks nonetheless. While Singapore's diaspora strategies prioritize diaspora knowledge networks, it bears the stamp of the country's colonial history, postcolonial priorities and developmental state apparatus. We suggest that these factors result in a distinctive diaspora strategy characterized by a centralized and technocratic approach more similar to diaspora strategies found in emerging economies. Earlier research on diaspora strategies has been concerned with assessing successes or failures, but a more critical scholarship that questions the logics and outcomes of diaspora strategizing is emerging. We bring the Singaporean case into dialogue with four such critiques: first, the intellectual foundations of diaspora‐centred development; second, the hyperextension of state infrastructure for emigration and stakeholder alignment; third, the selective mobilization of the idea of diaspora; and fourth, the evidence base upon which diaspora‐centred development is predicated. Our goal is to further critical interrogation into the logics, efficacy and sustainability of diaspora strategizing. We situate our analyses in the international literature on diaspora knowledge mobilization.     

粤港新经济合作格局演变及广东对策

改革开放30年来,在经济全球化、亚太区域经济一体化的宏观背景下．广东经济发展取得了举世瞩目的成就。随着广东经济层次的提高和对外经贸关系的升级,粤港、粤新之间传统的经济合作格局和经贸合作模式难以继续维系。为在三方利益博弈新格局中寻得发展先机．广东必须发挥其经济腹地及市场广阔、产业体系完善的优势,探索粤港、粤新经贸合作新模式,开拓广东对外经贸发展的新局面。     

An ANN application for water quality forecasting

Rapid urban and coastal developments often witness deterioration of regional seawater quality. As part of the management process, it is important to assess the baseline characteristics of the marine environment so that sustainable development can be pursued. In this study, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to predict and forecast quantitative characteristics of water bodies. The true power and advantage of this method lie in its ability to (1) represent both linear and non-linear relationships and (2) learn these relationships directly from the data being modeled. The study focuses on Singapore coastal waters. The ANN model is built for quick assessment and forecasting of selected water quality variables at any location in the domain of interest. Respective variables measured at other locations serve as the input parameters. The variables of interest are salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll-a. A time lag up to 2Deltat appeared to suffice to yield good simulation results. To validate the performance of the trained ANN, it was applied to an unseen data set from a station in the region. The results show the ANN's great potential to simulate water quality variables. Simulation accuracy, measured in the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (R(2)), ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 for the training and overfitting test data. Thus, a trained ANN model may potentially provide simulated values for desired locations at which measured data are unavailable yet required for water quality models.     

Quantifying precipitation extremes and their relationships with large-scale climate oscillations in a tropical country,Singapore: 1980–2018

Extreme precipitation indices (EPIs) were defined to quantify the precipitation extremes in Singapore, a typical tropical country situated near the equator. The paper investigated the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation extremes based on seventeen EPIs using non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope, and further explored the linear and nonlinear relationships between precipitation extremes and four large-scale global climate oscillations using correlation and wavelet analysis, during the period of 1980–2018 in Singapore. The results indicated that the trends of precipitation extremes varied for different EPIs, regions and stations. Increasing trends dominated thirteen out of seventeen EPIs. The trends of EPIs were scattered and irregularly distributed. The cross-correlation analysis between different EPIs demonstrated that annual total precipitation on wet days (PRCPTOT) was strongly correlated with other EPIs. The result of composite analysis indicated that El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerted stronger impacts on southwest monsoon season (SMS) precipitation than PRCPTOT and northeast monsoon season (NMS) precipitation. The SMS precipitation composite suggested that ENSO created more influence on dry spells than wet spells. The linear and nonlinear relationships revealed that all climate oscillations were negatively correlated with precipitation. The wavelet coherence and phase differences were consistent with the results of correlation analysis, indicating possible prediction of precipitation extremes using climate oscillations as potential predictors.