AR3101_Urban Prototype

A 3101

ZHAO YUE

URBAN INTERVENTION PROTOTYPE

in collaboration with Feranda Chua

PAGE 1

URBAN GALLERY REORGANIZING TRANSEXUAL PROSTITUTION AT DESKER ROAD FERANDA CHUA A0160597W ZHAO YUE A0158156Y

PLOT 20 CONTEXT

RED LIGHT DISTRICT IN SINGAPORE

1:5000

PAGE 2

Prostitution in Singapore is legal, but various prostitution-related activities are not.

This includes public solicitation, selling pornography, maintaining a brothel and advertising sex workers online.

In practice, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels. Prostitutes in such establishments are required to undergo periodic health checks.

Images on the left: two other main red light areas (Geylang and Orchard Tower)

Due to the low price charged, their customers are mainly the migrant workers who visit Little India on their off-days via the shuttle bus that goes between Little India and Jurong.

There are a few popular gathering spots in the area as well. They are highlighted in the map.

Desker Road is one of the oldest red light districts in Singapore. Illegal disk and sex toys peddlers are stationed in the back alleys with watchouts stationed to look out for plain clothed police officers.

This used to be a stronghold for illegal transexuals to do their business.

EOTM MINI SCENARIO

VIEW TO HDB FROM BACKALLEY

ENTRANCE TO HDB AND HDB PAVILLIONS

PAGE 3

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

PAGE 4

EXISTING INTERVENTION Beyond the removal of roads, smaller-scaled interventions have arisen as symptoms of the tension between the prostitution activities and the public. This is especially so for nearby residents due to proximity, as detailed with pictures here.

BEFI FRAMEWORK

PAGE 5

PROTOTYPE CONCEPT BEFORE

AFTER

PAGE 6

EXPERIENCE WITHIN THE SITE BEFORE

PAGE 7 Spaces generally cater to specific groups of people: 1. shophouse shops for customers, 2. the residential compound for residents, 3. and the backlane for prostitution workers and customers.

Tension and problems arise when opposing groups share the same space: such as the pavilion used by residents and prostitution customers, as identified by our EOTM.

EXPERIENCE WITHIN THE SITE

AFTER

PAGE 8 Our intervention returns the pavilion to the residents by creating a waiting area for prostitution customers, potentially reducing tension between the two groups.

Prostitutes are given space outside of their workspace to rest, while the sex education centre and clinic exists to provide service to multiple groups.

Therefore the area becomes of value to residents and other public.

PROCESS & STAKEHOLDERS BEFORE

PAGE 9

While the prostitution business is legal, the backlane condition encourages illegal businesses such as selling of pornography and sex toys.

Constant policing has resulted in an unofficial lookout system which protects these businesses. Tension between residents and the prostitution area also results in measures having to be taken by the police and housing authorities, which will be elaborated later on.

Thus stakeholders are kept in a delicate balancing act where prostitution is legal but deviant and frowned upon. Rent is low and many shophouses are left vacant due to the bad image of Desker Road.

PROCESS & STAKEHOLDERS

AFTER

PAGE 10

In the prototype, the job of managing the brothel businesses are handled by the organisation (NGO) which liases with the respective authorities.

The removal of backalley loitering by prostitution customers waiting around reduces the profit of illegal businesses that set up along the back alley. Thus illegal sale naturally declines without additional police patrolling. The visual disappearance of prostitution customers who wait around the area - sometimes queues can be seen at the front doors of shophouses - reduces the industry’s impact on residents, landlords and nearby businesses.

Furthermore, the sex clinic and sex education helps to protect the health of prostitutes and their customers; thereby reducing the national spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

PROGRAMME AND USERS BEFORE

PLAN 1:1000

SECTION 1:1000

PAGE 11 Desker Road is notorious for its transsexual prostitution activity, making it a space where only intentional customers go, and others shun. The presence of prostitution activity spills out from Desker Road to surrounding areas, such as the nearby HDB residential compound. The occupancy of these spaces causes tension between prostitution customers and residents.

PROGRAMME AND USERS

AFTER

PLAN 1:1000

SECTION 1:1000

PAGE 12

PROTOTYPE FLOOR PLAN

GROUND FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR

PAGE 13 After intervention, Desker Road’s activity is streamlined to an ordered process. Prostitution customers no longer cause visual disturbance to residents and other businesses, and instead queue in the waiting area. The sex clinic and education centre helps to provide service to this community which is especially vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases. This helps to protect the health and rights of the working prostitutes, and prevent the spread of such diseases on a national scale.

SECTIONAL AXONOMETRIC

BUSINESS CLOSURE 8AM-12PM

BUSINESS HOURS 12PM-8PM

PAGE 14

SNAPSHOT

PAGE 15

IMPLEMENTATION AND NEGOTIATION

PAGE 16

URBAN GALLERY NARRATIVE

PAGE 17

The Site

Physical reorganization and social impact

Historical, legal and socio-economic context

Our prototype proposes an intervention within two currently unoccupied shop-

Notorious for its transsexual prostitution activity, Desker Road is a space where only

houses along Desker Road. It neither encourages nor discourages the prostitution

the intentional visit, and the public shun. After the old Bugis Street and Johore Road

business, but instead seeks to reduce tension between different communities. The

was expunged in the mid-1980s and 90s respectively, transexual prostitution activi-

entrance to Desker Road shifts from the alley near the HDB estate, to the middle of

ties moved to Desker Road, where rent was relatively cheap. Business continues to

the shophouse row. This reduces both visual access and physical presence of pros-

today, largely frequented by foreign workers on the weekends. While prostitution

titution within the residential compound, thereby reducing tension. The presence

is quietly legal in Singapore , prostitution and transexualism is is frowned upon in

of the prototype is reduced through a buffer space, in the form of a pantry. (Figure

Singapore. This has led to the tight control of businesses, and tension between the

16) Thus when passerbys casually look into the space, they are not confronted with a

prostitution community and the public. Legal, economic and social processes thus

view of waiting prostitution customers.

1

2

results in an uncomfortable position for different stakeholders, with no potential resolution.

Economic reorganization and social impact EOTM and identified urban issue

The current experience4 of the prostitution customer is reorganized, where custom-

Tension run especially high between the prostitution community and residents

ers order through a ticketing system, and wait in the waiting area. The visual removal

due to their physical proximity. Spaces generally cater to specific groups of people:

of prostitution customers and queues reduce the impact on residents, landlords and

shophouse shops for customers, residential compound for residents, and the back-

nearby businesses. Rental and valuation prices of property may increase, with pre-

lane for prostitution. Tension and problems arise when opposing groups share the

viously unused floor space in the residential black can be activated. Businesses may

same space: such as where prostitution activity spills over from Desker Road to the

also receive more customers who initially avoided the area. The removal of back alley

pavilions in the HDB compound. As identified in the EOTM, the waiting prostitution

loitering also reduces the profitability of illegal businesses that set up along the back

customers have led the ground floor to be devoid of residents on weekends. This

alley. Thus illegal sale naturally declines without additional police patrolling.

3

fuels tension where spaces for residents has been ‘taken over’ by prostitution activity.

Furthermore, the introduction of a sex clinic and education centre on the second levExisting interventions

el helps to provide service to a community especially vulnerable to sexually transmit-

Small-scale interventions within the site are symptoms of this tension. Trees planted

ted diseases (STDs). Specifically the clinic and centre caters to prostitution customers

along the edge of the HDB estate block the view of Desker Road aboveground. How-

and the public during brothel opening hours, and to the prostitutes after hours. This

ever, this only works up to a certain height for residents. Visual access is also reduced

helps to protect the health and rights of the working prostitutes - a current global

through black cloth to the entrances of brothels, as well as awning above back

issue -, and prevents the spread of STDs on a national scale. This complements an ex-

doors. These interventions can ironically exacerbate the problem, as shown in the

isting legal rights project between Law Society Singapore and Project X, for “mobile

EOTM. On the ground, walls demarcate the boundary of the residential compound,

legal clinics [for] sex workers….[towards] a safer work environment”. Project X has also

both restricting visual and physical access to prostitution activity. However instead

been “befriending sex workers and distributing safe-sex resources such as condoms,

of keeping non-residents out, the wall encourages them to stay once entering the

health guides and HIV testing coupons” weekly since 2008.5 Prostitutes are also giv-

compound.

en space outside of their workspace to rest.

PAGE 18

Additionally, the sex education centre and clinic provides service to multiple stake-

Conclusion

holder groups, including residents. Therefore activities in Desker Road become of

In conclusion, the prototype addresses the problem of displaced residents through

value even to those outside the prostitution community, and the sex clinic becomes

introducing reorganization of existing spatial, management and socio-economic

a shared space. Thus through a reduced economic impact, visual access and provi-

systems. It navigates between the legal yet deviant position of the prostitution in-

sion of useful service, the prostitution community may be treated with less hostility.

dustry, seeking to reduce the tension between the prostitution community and the public. Through the prototype, the image of Desker Road can potentially improve,

Management Reorganization and impact

reducing the impact of prostitution activities on other stakeholders. The introduction

The prototype can be managed by a third party organisation, such as a non-govern-

of an NGO helps in keeping order, while the clinic and sex education centre helps to

ment organisation (NGO) dealing with prostitution workers rights or health issues,

protect workers’ rights and service the public. Set within a red light district context

such as aforementioned Project X. The job of managing the brothel businesses is

available in other countries, the prototype can be potentially be implemented else-

handled by the NGO, which then liaises with respective authorities. This reduces

where, addressing global human rights and sex education issues.

resources used in policing the area, and helps with the management of brothel 996 words

businesses and illegal businesses. The benefits of this will be further elaborated later in this essay.

Bibliography

Implementation

1.

Stakeholders’ costs and benefits

Prostitutes?” Mothership (blog). https://mothership.sg/2017/12/desker-rowell-road-prostitutes-sin-

The implementation of the prototype can be ensured if stakeholders stand to bene-

gapore/.

fit, earning their co-operation and even support. As shown above, the benefits out-

2.

weigh the costs for most parties, especially for stakeholders with power: namely the

Morning Post. June 29, 2018. Accessed November 24, 2018. https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arti-

authorities, landlords and residents, excluding illegal businesses and those profiting

cle/2120339/singapores-sex-trade-licensed-brothels-sugar-babies-and-laws-you-can-run.

from them. Thus the high ratio of benefits to costs, especially for those with power,

3.

can facilitate successful implementation of the prototype.

sgexposed.com/2012/03/singapore-red-light-district-desker.html).

4.

Relevance to other sites

Battering Rams.” Mothership(blog). https://mothership.sg/2017/12/brothel-near-swee-choon-tim-

Lay, Belmont. “Why Do Desker Road & Rowell Road Have Brothels with Transgender

“Singapore’s Sex Trade: ‘sugar Babies’, Licensed Brothels and Loose Laws.” South China

“Singapore Red Light District - Desker Road.” SIngapore Exposed (blog). http://www.

Lay, Belmont. “Brothel near Swee Choon Tim Sum Raided by Police in Full Ski Masks,

While other red light districts, especially overseas, may not have the unique shop-

sum-rowell-road-raid-police/).

house typology - though another famous red-light district in Singapore, Geylang,

5.

does, the prototype can still be implemented. The prototype of a ticketing system,

| Devex. January 25, 2018. Accessed November 24, 2018. https://www.devex.com/news/un-is-

clinic and sex education centre inserted into existing buildings can address global

sues-more-progressive-guidelines-on-sex-education-91893.

issues regarding the lack of sex education7, and sex workers8 human rights.

6.

6

“UN Issues More Progressive Guidelines on Sex Education.” Safety & Security Manager

“Sex Workers’ Rights Are Human Rights.” Early Marriage and Harassment of Syrian

Refugee Women and Girls in Jordan. Accessed November 24, 2018. https://www.amnesty.org/en/ latest/news/2015/08/sex-workers-rights-are-human-rights/.