VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

This paper explores the heritageisation process of the public housing estate, Queenstown, in Singapore, and the influence of its stakeholders in the process. Housing estates – particularly large-scale public housing developments – are often considered symbols of social change and alienation, and an eyesore to the urban landscape in its deterioration. Secondary literature on the housing situation in Singapore has portrayed public housing as an essential move to curb with overpopulation, yet at the same time, a bringer of destruction to idyllic villages with strong community ties. As such disruptions have grown to become an integral aspect to the perceived living environment today, mentions of demolition and new developments have sparked bottom-up efforts to document personal and collective memories associated with these places. Queenstown, the first satellite town planned and constructed in Singapore, is at the centre of the contested relations between heritage and development. This paper seeks to investigate the motives and the role of the state agencies and the community in constructing heritage narratives of Queenstown through primary sources, including urban planning documents, reports published by relevant agencies and community-based organisations, and secondary sources such as newspaper articles. While examining specific aspects of Queenstown identified as heritage by the respective actors, this paper argues that such conception and celebration of “heritage” is not necessarily distinct and mutually exclusive between stakeholders involved; it is an on-going dialogue between all parties encouraging further discussion, discovery, and creation of value in newer forms of heritage which will be crucial in urban landscape management.