ABSTRACT

The specific view from the Singapore Flyer is quite different from that from a New York or London skyscraper and, so, too, is the kind of knowledge which it offers up. This is further emphasized by the mid-distance view to the south of the Singapore Flyer and over the Gardens by the Bay project. In this chapter, Singapore is presented as 'the world's premier tropical garden city' and from the high-level Flyer, the utopian character of the project is emphasized by the expansive spread of 101 hectares of landscaping and by a series of unworldly 25-50m high 'Supertree' vertical gardens. The Singapore Flyer is quite distinct to the individualised subdivisions of Simmel's metropolitan time, providing instead a counterbalance to the 'maelstrom of modern life' and the general speed-up which Marshall Berman and others have identified as one of the essential conditions of modernity.