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6 The Naming and Signification of Urban Space: Municipal versus Asian Street-names and Place-names World maps prepared for use within a given country misrepresent in some degree the place names of countries of other speech. When different alphabets are involved, the misrepresentation is magnified; and when a different system of language is used, ... the distortion puts the cultural and geographic realities completely beyond the grasp of the layman. 1 Difficult as it may be to distinguish clearly between so-called 'spontaneous ' naming of places by the man on the ground, so to speak, and the 'self-conscious' work of the man at the desk, the distinction must be kept in mind if place names are to tell us how space has been structured cognitively.2 Illustrating what might be called, after its well-known advocate, the 'Humpy Dumpty position', ... names are rooted neither in reality nor custom, but express instead the power of the namer over the thing named.3 The Significance of Street-names and Place-names in Singapore IN colonial Singapore, the municipal authorities were empowered to establish a network of street- and place-names to facilitate the identification, demarcation, and differentiation of the urban built environment for the purposes of colonial rule. From the early days of the Settlement, Stamford Raffles decreed that 'each street should receive some appropriate name' and that it was 'the duty of the police to see [that they were] regularly numbered'.4 Under section 28 of the Indian Act XIV (Conservancy) of 1856, the commissioners were empowered to affix in a 'conspicuous ... place at each end, corner, or entrance of every street' in the town of Singapore a board on which was 'the name by which such street is to be known'. 5 A clear and well-ordered system of street- and place-names was essential to the colonial and municipal authorities for a number of practical purposes. Accurate addresses and 6 The Naming and Signification of Urban Space: Municipal versus Asian Street-names and Place-names World maps prepared for use within a given country misrepresent in some degree the place names of countries of other speech. When different alphabets are involved, the misrepresentation is magnified; and when a different system of language is used, ... the distortion puts the cultural and geographic realities completely beyond the grasp of the layman. 1 Difficult as it may be to distinguish clearly between so-called 'spontaneous ' naming of places by the man on the ground, so to speak, and the 'self-conscious' work of the man at the desk, the distinction must be kept in mind if place names are to tell us how space has been structured cognitively.2 Illustrating what might be called, after its well-known advocate, the 'Humpy Dumpty position', ... names are rooted neither in reality nor custom, but express instead the power of the namer over the thing named.3 The Significance of Street-names and Place-names in Singapore IN colonial Singapore, the municipal authorities were empowered to establish a network of street- and place-names to facilitate the identification, demarcation, and differentiation of the urban built environment for the purposes of colonial rule. From the early days of the Settlement, Stamford Raffles decreed that 'each street should receive some appropriate name' and that it was 'the duty of the police to see [that they were] regularly numbered'.4 Under section 28 of the Indian Act XIV (Conservancy) of 1856, the commissioners were empowered to affix in a 'conspicuous ... place at each end, corner, or entrance of every street' in the town of Singapore a board on which was 'the name by which such street is to be known'. 5 A clear and well-ordered system of street- and place-names was essential to the colonial and municipal authorities for a number of practical purposes. Accurate addresses and CONTESTING SPACE 220 clearly signposted streets were necessary for levying house assessments and public utilities rates as well as for efficient postal, fire-fighting, and transport services. Portions of streets in colonial Singapore were occasionally renumbered, reclassified or renamed to accommodate the requirements of the municipal assessment office.6 Street-names which were phonetically similar were often changed in order to avoid confusion and delay in summoning the fire brigade to the correct location in the event of a fire. In 1858, it was noted in the municipal meetings that much confusion reigned among the streets of Singapore because not only were certain streets, canals, and squares nameless...

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