Victor R. Savage

Changing Geographies and the Geography of Change: Some Reflections

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography and the 75th anniversary of the teaching of geography in the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, the home of the Journal, this article, based on personal reflections and “objective” academic materials, provides an overview of developments in geography in the Department and Journal. The paper argues that the departments and Journals“identities”, since the post-World War II period, have been shaped by Singapores changing domestic politics, the changing university academic environment, the personalities and academic interests of heads of the department and the Journas editors, the state of the changing regional and global political economic environment, and the individual research interests of faculty in the department, and reflects a complex mix of colonial/post-colonial, modern/post-modern, North-South and East-West discourses. While a defined Singapore school of geography has yet to emerge, the article shows that both the department and the Journal have made major strides in meeting the challenges of globalisation and, in the process, have gained international visibility and academic legitimacy. In particular, the Journal has consolidated its position as a major voice for academics in lesser developed countries, its platform for “tropical world” discourse and maintaining its edge in the colonial/post-colonial and modern/post-modern discourses of states within the tropics.

Urban Constraints, Political Imperatives: Environmental 'Design' in Singapore

Abstract Cities are complex ecosystems and, all over the world, they are increasingly confronted with environmental problems such as air pollution, acid rain, smog, water shortages and garbage disposal. It is our contention in this paper that there can be no solutions to these urban ecosystem problems unless the issues are adopted by national governments and urban administrations. We use Singapore as a case study to illustrate how urban development and successful environmental management can occur concurrently, precisely because of the presence of enlightened elites and decision makers and firm government. In particular, we focus in this paper on the urban environmental experiences of Singapore. The nature of environmental changes in the post-Independence years are examined, including the cleaning up and greening of landscapes, the urban planning and resultant transformation to a built-up landscape, and the increasing concern with conservation of the landscape, both natural and historical. We argue that all this has been practically feasible because of the continuing social education and engineering of social behaviour and attitudes regarding environmental issues through mass media, campaigns and legal binds. What lies at the heart of the continuing efforts at social education and engineering? We argue that they stem from a political elite which recognises the constraints facing Singapore and the need to deal with them at national level. Specifically, the government in Singapore has recognised the spatial constraints of an island-state and the dangers of a burgeoning population, particularly in relation to the need to sustain a viable urban ecosystem. They have therefore been conscientious in planning and population control. They have also stressed the importance of remaining economically viable in order to survive and an entire survival and excellence ethos has been inculcated in Singaporeans. This has been translated in urban planning and environmental mangement terms to mean creating and sustaining a city of excellence which is at the same time a model environment city. Above all, they have attempted to inculcate in Singaporeans a communitarian ideology that emphasises Asian notions of nation before community and society above self. It is hoped that such an ideology would, amongst other things, prevent a tragedy of the commons situation.

The Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography: 1953 Onwards

Amongst Anglophone scholarly journals, the Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (SJTG) occupies a distinctive and substantial niche. The journal, known originally as The Malayan Journal of Tropical Geography was envisaged as a flagship publication for the only university geography department in what was then the British colony of Malaya. Singapore was not only the key entrepôt for Malaya, but had developed as a commercial gathering ground of a vast hinterland that extended across the Straits into Sumatra and through swathes of Indonesia as well as a naval base and port of call for global shipping. Established in October 1953, the journal has appeared continuously for the last 55 years, notwithstanding shifting geopolitical scenarios, name changes and changed publication arrangements. Indeed, less than two years after the journal first appeared in 1953, the April 1955 Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia articulated a militant vision of Afro-Asian solidarity. Writing of the shifts that this embodied and their trajectories since, Vijay Prashad (2007, p. xv) argues that ‘The Third World was not a place. It was a project’. Arguably the Third World became both space and project. The trajectory of the SJTG reflects this. In this short paper, we aim to distil some of the historical junctures, ideological changes and what it has meant to edit what relatively quickly became an internationally recognized journal edited from a tropical city at the tip of the Malay peninsula. While other geographical Journals claim national appellations or sub-disciplinary foci, the SJTG is not focused on Singapore but publishes work on the larger (often) amorphous, ‘tropical world’. For the first 40 years of the SJTG’s existence, the journal was essentially an ‘in-house’ publication: Singapore-based faculty and staff edited, published, distributed and marketed the journal. The journal’s editorial board subsequently made several key decisions that brought a heightened international visibility to the SJTG. These included the establishment of an international advisory board in 1994; a book review section in 1995; and the

The Naga awakens : growth and change in Southeast Asia

This book addresses the political and social issues that countries in the Southeast Asian region must face as they move into the 21st century

Sustainability matters : environmental management in Asia

Corporate Environmental Governance and Financial Performance Relationship (S V Valentine & V Savage) Implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System in Vietnam (D M Anh & G Ofori) Policies and Legal Frameworks of Protected Area Management in Nepal (B L Dutt et al.) Study of Parks and Nature Reserves Fiscal Management Models (C Ng & M L C Lee) Marine Invasive Dpecies and their Potential Impacts on Singapore Waters (M K Puthia et al.) Aquaculture Management in Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam: Environmental Considerations (T T M Hang & L M Chou) Cost Benefit Analysis of Mining in Protected Forest: A Case Study in Indonesia (S Irawan & Y-H Chang) A Green Energy Policy and New Electricity Market of Singapore (A H F Ong & Y-H Chang) Hazardous Waste Management for Ho Chih Minh City (D T Trang & Y P Ting) Management of Electronic Waste in Singapore (Y S Chan & Y P Ting) and other papers.

Singapore’s Global City Challenges: National Identity, Cosmopolitan Aspirations, Migrant Requirements

This paper argues that while urbanisation is an inevitable trend and process around the world, it carries with it the seeds of political discontent, social unrest and economic challenges. Even for a relatively politically stable city-state like Singapore, the exposure to global forces (globalisation; geopolitical changes; international economic competition) and national challenges (foreign labour; employment; health care, housing) is testing the political management and governance of its ruling party. The important urban trend is that second echelon cities (below eight million people) are likely in the coming decades to be the drivers and catalyst of development in the world and hence states need to move away from mega-city development.

Sustainability Matters: Environmental and Climate Changes in the Asia-Pacific

Harmful algal blooms (HAB) are a yearly event in the waters of Manila Bay, Philippines. The very first major bloom was caused by a toxic dinoflagellate species, Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum, which is known to cause Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP). This chapter reviews HAB episodes in the bay recorded from the 1980s to 1990s, and compares them with the more recent events in the 21st century. Pyrodinium blooms occurred for almost a decade from 1988 until 1998, before being succeeded by a non-toxic species, Noctiluca scintillans, that was first recorded in the year 2001. No PSP cases were recorded between then and the year 2010. More recent bloom episodes, however, were caused by another toxic dinoflagellate species, Alexandrium minutum. The numbers of recorded PSP cases were higher in the 1980s and 1990s bloom events compared to the more recent toxic blooms. The decrease in incidences of PSP do not necessarily mean that the ecological health of the bay has improved, but instead could be due to changes in the physico-chemical properties of the water favouring one phytoplankton species over another. Even though sea surface temperatures and rainfall are known to be associated to HABs, the present study found no significant correlations among the variables tested. Due to the complexity of the environmental issues identified in Manila Bay, it is essential to conduct more comprehensive studies on the biological, physical, and chemical components of the bay to facilitate a clearer understanding of HAB episodes.

Social Science Infrastructure: Asia

While Asian governments are increasing their budgets for research and development (R&D), most financial outlays are mainly in applied areas in engineering, science, technology, and infrastructural fields. Although the ‘soft’ areas of R&D in social, cultural, economic, and political sciences have traditionally been relegated to university research centers, they are now gaining traction in private sector institutions and government-backed national think tanks. Given the many challenges Asian communities face (inequality of wealth, poverty, food insecurity, unemployment, domestic political instability, etc.) the importance of social and cultural R&D is likely to grow and become influential in shaping national and geopolitical policies in future.