Socio-Cultural and Economic Aspects of Civic District: Place-Making

This assignment is an opinion editorial exploring the concept of place-making within Singapore's Civic District. The author discusses the district's historical development, highlighting its significance as a British colonial ground and its evolution into a modern city. The editorial emphasizes the diverse cultural aspects resulting from immigration and their impact on the district's socio-cultural landscape. It examines the economic focus on tourism and hospitality, citing historical sites as key attractions. The author strongly advocates for placemaking as a means to enhance community values and improve infrastructure, ultimately aiming to strengthen the connection between people and their cultural heritage. The piece references relevant sources to support its arguments, demonstrating an understanding of place-making principles and their application to the Civic District.

Running Head: OPINION EDITORIAL
OPINION EDITORIAL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1OPINION EDITORIAL
Placemaking is a socio-cultural approach plan design and manage public places for
maintaining communities assets and cultural potentials. In my opinion, placemaking intends
to promote people's health and the welfare of the whole community.
Singapore is a Cosmopolitan City; people live with harmony and interact with
themselves irrespective of different races and community belongings. Civic District is one of
the oldest residential areas in Singapore. My opinion regarding the socio-cultural aspects of
Civic District will discuss briefly. The Civic district area was among the first cities that were
developed by the colonial powers of Singapore. The founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford
Raffles, chose Civic district as a British colonial ground for having Singapore River in the
neighbourhood and his idea was to maintain a good way of conducting business through the
waterways in the nearby countries (Yigitcanlar et al., 2016). The Civic District engraves
various historical events such as; the signing and documentation processes after the end of
World War II.
In the Civic district, modern Singapore began after setting of a master plan in the year
1822. The Civic district planned with the best urban amenities and now many new buildings
have been erected to help in creating a thriving future for the people of Singapore (Alderman,
2016). I, as a citizen of Singapore, have always seen that the cultural aspects of the Civic
District were always in a diverse pattern. These can be the result of experiencing immigrants
from places such as Malaysia, Europe, India and China. The people of different cultural
backgrounds came here and started living. The cultural aspects intermingled among the
citizens of Singapore with time. The economic development of the Civic District mainly
focused on tourism and hospitality management business. Many historical sites are prime
locations for visitors all around the world to know about the history of Singapore. Places like
Singapore Art Museum, Fort Canning Park, City Hall, The Grand St. Andrews Cathedral as
well as the Singapore River plays the role of main attractions and reason for economic

2OPINION EDITORIAL
development due to tourism sector (Yigitcanlar et al. 2016). However, the reason for the
economic development of the Civic District primarily focused on tourism and business
sector. There lies a very specific reason behind the naming of Civic District. In the past, this
place allocated with many Civic Institutions in the North Side of Singapore Riverbank.
I strongly believe the idea of placemaking is an approach to enhance the values and
beliefs of society, also making the welfare of the neighbourhood as well. People living in the
Civic district can collectively inspire with placemaking. The process of placemaking aims to
reimagine and reinvent the old residential places, to make the welfare of the people by
making necessary changes to the infrastructure. Therefore, placemaking can be called an
approach to strengthen the connection between people and their respective values by
enhancing the infrastructure of the places. At present, the Civic District is more liveable due
to the integration of art and cultural sites to generate more economic development to enhance
people's lives (Purushothaman, 2016). The place was found around 200 years ago when the
first British landed in Singapore on 29th January 1819. From then on, Singapore was
colonised and flourished with many historical buildings. The places such as Victoria Theatre,
Victoria Concert Hall and Esplanade have been restructured to reduce congestion due to
traffic and increase the flow of pedestrians. However, having the new classical buildings of
European culture helps people to generate economic sources, the city lacks the idea of urban
planning (Lew, 2017). Civic district is a city where two-storey neoclassical buildings from
the colonial period as well as modern metal skyscrapers stand together with the same
harmony as the cultural approach of the city. Henceforth the placemaking planners need to
consider the facts, to improve and develop socio-cultural aspects of the issues in way better
manner. Hence, the placemaking can be worth of having in the society of Civic District, to
protect and make an infrastructural development of a place to live, to grow and encourage the
values and beliefs of cultural aspects of Singapore.

3OPINION EDITORIAL
References:
Alderman, D. H. (2016). Place, naming and the interpretation of cultural
landscapes. Heritage and Identity, edited by Brian Graham and Peter Howard, 195-
213.
Lew, A. A. (2017). Tourism planning and place making: place-making or
placemaking?. Tourism Geographies, 19(3), 448-466.
Purushothaman, V. (2016). Cultural policy, creative economy and arts higher education in
renaissance Singapore. Higher Education and the Creative Economy: Beyond the
Campus, 201-20.
Yeo, S. J., Ho, K. C., & Heng, C. K. (2016). Rethinking spatial planning for urban
conviviality and social diversity: a study of nightlife in a Singapore public housing
estate neighbourhood. Town Planning Review, 87(4), 379-399.
Yigitcanlar, T., Guaralda, M., Taboada, M., & Pancholi, S. (2016). Place making for
knowledge generation and innovation: Planning and branding Brisbane's knowledge
community precincts. Journal of Urban Technology, 23(1), 115-146.