Global Asia Colloquium
27 April 2018, 4-6 PM
KJCC 607 (53 Wash Sq So), with wine and cheese
“Vital Systems Security and Singapore’s Climate Adaptation Planning” (paper at this link)
Well-known for its savvy geopolitical outlook, Singapore has positioned itself as a leader in planning for climate change in spite of the many unknowns about what climate futures may hold in store for insular SE Asia. This paper focuses on Singapore’s multipronged water strategy, which engages with matters of public water supply, coastal protection, and urban flooding. The island-country’s unique postcolonial history has involved comprehensive coastal planning for industrial development and wholesale population resettlement in public housing. I argue that climate planning can be interpreted in terms of the concept of vital systems security offered by Stephen Collier and Andrew Lakoff. I evaluate Singapore’s planning in light of its history of territorialization, in which infrastructure and nationalist exceptionalism has tended to abstract the island from its regional territorial context. Four terms are especially relevant: terraformation, vigilance, emergency, and predictive control. However, Singapore’s commitment to rationalistic planning has become increasingly intensified as it attempts to rationalize and control unpredictable change, expressed most powerfully in its commitment to continue burning fossil fuels while isolating itself from climate impacts.