January 25, 2024

Singapore has been touted as one of the world’s most well-planned cities, with a focus on not only public infrastructure but also on its natural environment. As envisioned by Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore has transformed into ‘a city in a garden’, a unique urban setting that accommodates a diverse range of inhabitants, from mosquitoes to humans to polar bears. Singapore’s urban model provides insights into how such human-animal interactions have functioned and specifically, raises questions about how this cohabitation has influenced Singaporean society.

These questions are explored in Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City (NUS Press, 2024), edited by Associate Professor Timothy P. Barnard (NUS History). A/P Barnard collates insights from various institutions and disciplines, employing both historical and ecological analysis. The book focuses on events surrounding human-animal interactions and studies them in detail to understand how these interactions have influenced Singapore’s urban planning and development.

Through this book, A/P Barnard, who is also a contributor, intends to show animals have played an active role in the development of Singapore, as opposed to passive objects within Singapore’s ecosystem. The book also provides perspectives on Singapore’s urban future and how these human-animal interactions will continue to influence it.

NUS Press and the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum are holding a book launch for Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City on Jan 27 (Saturday) at 2:00 PM. The book launch will be at the LKCNHM Learning Lab. The book’s editor, A/P Barnard, will be accompanied by contributors Assistant Professor Anthony Medrano (Yale-NUS Environmental Studies), Assistant Professor Faizah Zakaria (NUS Southeast Asian Studies and Malay Studies), and Esmond Soh (NTU History), as well as commentator Martyn Low (LKCNHM Biodiversity Histories).

Register for the book launch here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaHCabRfILQIjD5403vCd7i380VWb3oAEDSx30TjP-wLHkpA/viewform

Pre-order the book here: https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/singaporean-creatures