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Full-Text Articles in Place and Environment
No-Place, New Places: Death And Its Rituals In Urban Asia, Lily Kong
No-Place, New Places: Death And Its Rituals In Urban Asia, Lily Kong
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
In many Asian cities, particularly those that confront increasing land scarcity, the conversion from burial to cremation has been encouraged by state agencies in the last several decades. From Hong Kong to Seoul to Singapore, planning agencies have sought to reduce the use of space for the dead, in order to release land for the use of the living. More secular guiding principles regarding efficient land use in these cities had originally come up against the symbolic values invested in burial spaces, resulting in conflicts between different value systems. In more recent years, however, the shift to cremation and columbaria …
'Environment' As A Social Concern: Democratising Public Arenas In Singapore?, Lily Kong
'Environment' As A Social Concern: Democratising Public Arenas In Singapore?, Lily Kong
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This paper explores the question of who defines the agenda of environmental concerns in Singapore. It argues that the state plays an inordinately large role in defining the agenda and implementing the solutions. Few other competing environmental agendas have been set in alternative public arenas. While this has worked generally well in Singapore, there are larger roles for environmental groups, businesses and industries, and other bodies to play. It is in the enlarged roles of these bodies that the hope for a greater democratization of public arenas in Singapore lies.