City Cultural Capital and Local Rebuilding: Analysis of Singapore Park Construction and Renewal Process (1968-2020)

At present, urban development is paying increasingly higher attention to ecological environment and cultural connotation. Park renewal has been a critical medium to enhance urban cultural capital. In the “Garden City” - Singapore, park renewal has not only effectively improved the national image and highlighted its characteristics, but also increased its vitality and attraction to talent and capital. Under the impact of functionalism and instrumentalism of the cultural economic policies, the park renewal has promoted the city cultural capital mainly in the aspects of production, consumption and control right. In the 1960s-1970s, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Jurong Park and town parks facilitated racial integration through the construction of multi-cultural theme parks under the cultivation of national identity of “Singaporeans”. In the 1980s-1990s, parks at all levels enriched cultural attractions to boost the development of tourism under the guidance of “high-quality life” and “gracious society” policies. Since 2000, parks have become the main venues for the performance of local culture and public art, based on the policy of “Renaissance City Plan”. The “Arts Everywhere” runs through Gardens by the Bay, Jurong Lake Gardens and gardens in towns and communities. The Singapore practice furnishes us with many references, such as top-down policies guarantee led by the government, construction of a multi-cultural, efficient, characteristic and pragmatic park network to improve the environmental livability and residents’ happiness, and attract international investment and talents.