T.c. CHANG, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore
An intersecting concern in ‘tourism studies’ and ‘urban geography’ is the development, management and marketing of places. The concept of ‘place making’ first emerged as an urban development strategy in the 2000s aimed at improving the urban design and the standard of living of city inhabitants. In tourism, place making has been embraced in destination planning and urban management often with varying outcomes across space and time. This presentation critically explores the role of arts, culture and heritage as key ingredients in tourism place making. Different examples of success, challenges and contestations are presented using urban Singapore as a case study. In historic districts like Little India and Tiong Bahru, street art has contributed greatly to place making but the process has also been frustrated by gentrification and the lack of community involvement. In retail strips like Orchard Road and Circular Road (Singapore River), creative activities like busking and street parties manifest the potential of public events in enlivening spaces, but they also raise concerns about over-tourism. Just as places may be ‘made’ by creative and cultural tourism, they may also be ‘un-made’ by it. Drawing from the case of Singapore, the implications of creative tourism place making for Asian cities are underscored.
Mots clés : tourism|creativity|urban|place making|Singapore
A103364TC