For hypergrowing Singapore, noise is an issue of everyday life. As a public problem, noise can be very relative because it deeply relates to the level of tolerance, while tolerance to noise is socially conditioned. But in a city where virtually every public issue is subject to technocratic handling, sound and noise are considered techno-environmental problems that require technocratic remedies. Drawing on the growing literature on soundscape and sound studies, this research note seeks to examine how sound and noise are being problematized in the urban spaces of Singapore. Our research note will examine a case of how cross-cutting issues of sound/noise, technology, and livability manifest at the neighborhood-level. In particular, we will draw upon our ethnographic study to explore noise issues in a high density neighborhood in Singapore. Focusing on one high density neighborhood, our study provides interesting insights into the challenges of devising policies/plans for postcolonial modern cities in a state of perpetual flux. It also shows how technocratic handling faces limitations in dealing with urban noise and public responses in the context of changing soundscapes.
Keywords:
Whether pleasurable or deleterious, “noise” is a phenomenon often associated with urban environments. The rhythms, cacophony and hum of city life all conjure up the gravitas of intersecting networks; of crisscrossing flows of people and technologies in places; and of myriad mobilities that makes urban spaces come alive. For hypergrowing Singapore, noise is the issue of everyday life—whether on streets, at work, at home, or in public parks. For years, experts of the city-state have sought methods and put to work a variety of instruments to mitigate and to tame noise wherever it was found to be disturbing “social order.” As a public problem, noise can be very relative because it deeply relates to the level of tolerance, while tolerance to noise is socially conditioned. But in a city where virtually every public issue is subject to technocratic handling, noise is considered a techno-environmental problem that requires technocratic remedies (Teo and Amir Citation2021). In this research note we wish to examine how noise is problematized in the urban spaces of Singapore. Our research note presents a case of cross-cutting issues of noise, technocracy, and livability manifest at the neighborhood-level. Our study setting in Singapore is exceptionally important because it is situated in an island city-state which at times has been held out as a role model, “test bed” or laboratory of urban best practices (e.g. see Newman Citation2011; Pow Citation2014). Thus, what we are going to address in this research note will provide important sociotechnical insights into fast-changing and growing cities in Asia, the global South and beyond.
