Claustrophobia

i looked out the bus window and there, a prominent signboard announces that a condominium will be built over the now vacant site. Yet another empty plot of grassland is going to be superseded by hard concrete building, i lamented. In my neighbourhood, every imaginable plot of unused land has over the years given way to something concrete - a school, a few blocks of flats, or another condominium. You can't see the view beyond a few miles because everywhere there is a building that stands in permanent obstruction. These buildings that are testament to improvement in amenities and progress have become oppressive structures which materialised at the expense of precious open space; in some instances, they literally developed on improbably small sites that are but a few yards between existing buildings.

And all that makes me feel claustrophobic. I know land is scarce in tiny Singapore. But i value open space, i value the emptiness of undeveloped grassland and the presence of vast greenery. In fact, i think human beings need a healthy amount of uninhibited space to thrive. But this is becoming so difficult in Singapore, where its geographical development mirrors the political climate: the absence and erosion of space parallels the political control and political orderliness under the dominant one-party state. It is suffocating.

Of course there are places to go where there's plenty of green and open spaces - Lim Chu Kang, Bukit Timah nature reserve, MacRitchie reservoir etc. But i don't want to have to go to places in order to enjoy that essential aspect of my physical well-being. It makes sense that open space as a feature should be incorporated into my everyday living. And so it is that i am upset with the destruction of evey conceivable plot of small land in my neighbourhood. I'm not against infrastructural development or building more apartments to meet the needs of society. But i think this has been carried out, in some instances, to such an unhealthy extent that there's insufficient breathing space. There is simply a sense of overwhelming oppression rendered by spatial constriction.

Unfortunately, this is a fate that i can't escape, as long as this remains my home where i sink my roots in.