Claiming Ordinary Space in the “Cosmopolitan Grid”

Deciphering the ‘cosmopolitan grid’: The production of space in diversifying heartland neighbourhoods of Singapore

“…Since the beginning of British colonialism in the 1800s, the city centre has always been perceived as the international cosmopolitan space where the foreign-born live, work and play; suburbs were the heartlands of public housing and the local life where foreign presence was not 'commonplace' (Wessendorf, 2014). The establishment of international schools in the heartlands began with the relocation of the Singapore American School to the predominantly public housing northern suburb of Woodlands in 1996, which resulted in American families setting up homes in the single-family houses, reconfiguring spatial practices and social events and turning the area around the school into 'Little America' (Chan, 2019). In 1999, Lyce´e Francais de Singapur relocated to Serangoon Gardensa northeastern suburb, followed by the Australian International School in 2003 to nearby Lorong Chuan, and respectively in 2017 and 2018, new campuses of the Global Indian International School and the Stamford American International School also opened in the northeast.…”

“…The (re)production of urban space guided by economic pragmatism introduces new relations between social and cultural groups, new rhythms of daily life, new palpable ways of interaction among residents (Albrechts and Mandelbaum, 2005;Langegger, 2016;Sandercock, 2000). What used to be banal and 'ordinary' live-work-play neighbourhood spaces have become infrastructural commodities in the international labour marketplace (Atkinson and Bridge, 2005;Beaverstock, 2011;Chan, 2019). 1 As a new society of highly-skilled foreign elites of different origins arrive and settle in neighbourhoods, which have traditionally been resided in by mostly native-born residents, 2 urban neighbourhoods become giant contact zones 'where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other' (Pratt, 1991: 34) and the ideals of cosmopolitanism as acceptance of differences showing humility and empathy for others per Appiah (2006) and Beck (2006) are being worked out daily.…”

“…Like the grid, which was a space structuring device to order economic expansion and steer urban development in New York City and Amsterdam in the 1800s by increasing predictability and stability for investors (Kostof, [1991] 1999), so too was the case in Singapore's highly-orchestrated strategic production of cosmopolitan space by the state. This 'cosmopolitan grid' opens up new contact zones in the city because it tampers with the global-local cultural divide by enlarging the comfort zone beyond the city centre and traditional expatriate enclaves for highlyskilled foreign elites to live in the city-state (Chan, 2019). In parallel with the expansion of the grid, the income levels among the native-born have also increased so that opportunities to own and live in private condominiums among different foreign nationalities and ethnicities have likewise grown.…”

“…The public outcry was largely levelled against further immigration from China and India which juxtaposed awkwardly with the silence regarding the Western White foreignborn. Beyond its smaller population, the silence manifested an implicit 'White privilege' of invisibility and the less questioned perception of skill superiority that accompanies Whiteness (Hof, 2021) in a city that continues to carry the imprints of its British colonial past (Chan, 2019). However, as the research finding would show later, this social norm is no longer a given as the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022 unleashed yet another strong wave of anti-foreigner sentiments arising from job competition among the native-born and foreign-born skilled labour.…”