Our Artificial Landscape

Just came home after a week or so from India and Australia. Driving home from the airport, the spotless expressways, trees and lamp-posts immaculately planted equi-distant from one another, and lanes printed clearly and accurately on the roads stood out in stark contrast to those of the two countries - in particular India - that i've just gone to.

And yet, I find the design of Singapore's landscape so organised and systematic that it appears almost artificial and contrived.

Guess the sad state of affairs is that we have no choice. If you have only a small room but you want to put all kinds of furnishings and decorations into it, the only way is to arrange everything carefully, tile by tile. It is no different for our tiny island state. You want enough trees for landscaping, houses and flats for people, roads for cars, forested areas for military training, reservoirs for water, and skyscrapers for economics, you have no choice but to organise each of these carefully.

The inevitable result is: Singapore, our Artificial Landscape.