Day 0: Singapore Arrival, Individual Explorations, and Workshop Introduction

As an introduction of myself to the readers (primarily parents, I suppose), I am Diana Jue, a rising senior in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. I'm also a fortunate member of this fabulous Singapore-Bangkok workshop that was organized for this MIT class. This two week experience is an opportunity for us students to research different housing typologies by examining the housing situations in Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand.

Our first day in Singapore was unorganized, giving us an opportunity to rest from our 20+ hour flights and to explore the city. The weather was hot, humid, and wet. I maneuvered through the MRT (subway) system, saw the famous Merlion statue in the harbor, wandered through Chinatown's food and street markets, visited an assortment of shopping malls that have sprung up along the different MRT stations, rode a high-flying cable car to Sentosa ("Singapore's island resort"), visited the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia (it's not as exciting as the name puts on), and napped at the beach. It was an eventful first day, filled with touristy sightseeing opportunities and eating delicious food throughout the city.

Singapore is clean, structured, and very controlled - at least that's the impression that I first received. The landscaping is complex and beautiful. Skyscrapers and outlandish architecture dot the downtown financial area. There is a manicured look and feel; I could sense that the city was planned intentionally using its effective and affordable public transportation. The Sentosa beaches are fabricated like a Walt Disney resort and sprinkled with tourist attractions. Where we are living, shopping malls are commonplace. In my exploration of the city, Chinatown provided the sole glimpse of what I assume is "old Singapore," only because the buildings look older and have more character. Lack of character is also a theme that permeates the city. The tall glass and concrete buildings, along with the high density, vertical public housing complexes project an image of modernity (to some people) but make me wonder what was Singapore and if Singapore cares.

The workshop's first official group meeting was held at our hotel, the YWCA Fort Canning Lodge. We met the Singaporean and Thai students who will join us in this learning experience. Preliminary introductions included Polaroid photos and declaring whether we would like to live in Singapore or Bangkok and our decision criteria. I'm not sure which city received the most votes. People who chose Singapore picked it for its job opportunities, convenience of transportation, stability, and organization. People who chose Bangkok picked it for its culture, freedom, diversity, and city life. As one Thai student put it, he would want to live in Singapore on the weekdays but spend his weekends in Bangkok. Of course, most of us MIT students made our decisions based on conjecture since we haven't spent much time in either city. Acknowledgment of individual criteria was the main point of the exercise, and later in this workshop we'll explore the criteria of residents who live in these cities' housing developments.