Globalising Singapore: Debating Transnational Flows in the City

Transnational practices and networks of capital, labour, business and commodity markets, political movements and cultural flows are both the products of, and catalyst for, contemporary globalisation processes. An important site where the analytical lens can be trained to examine the way in which the material processes and discourses of globalisation and transnationalism intersect lies in dominant cities of the world urban hierarchy. As key nodes in the economic, social and technological networks spanning the world space economy, these 'global cities' are also places in themselves, where the social, cultural and economic fabric is not only woven out of local elements, but also clearly involves a high density of transnational relationships. In this paper, we examine debates in Singapore focused on four categories of transnational flows: the transnational business class comprising highly mobile, highly skilled professional, managerial and entrepreneurial élites; a large group of low-waged immigrants filling unskilled and semiskilled niches in the urban service economy; expressive specialists who enliven the cultural and artistic scene; and world tourists attracted by the cosmopolitan ambience. Specifically, we give attention to the interdependence among these categories and assess the challenges which have to be addressed in Singapore's bid to develop 'best practices' for a 'cosmopolitan and creative' global city epitomising the essence of transnationalism while at the same time remaining a 'home' distinguished by a strong sense of local identity and community.