In recent years, the growing concern in Singapore over how places imbued with significant social memories are managed is the outcome of firstly, an increased liberty to debate social issues, and secondly, a preoccupation amongst Singaporeans over the preservation of such landscapes.

While many studies have been done on other place-significant localities, such as the Civic and Cultural District (Huang, Teo and Heng, 1995; Teo and Huang, 1995), Chinatown (Yeoh and Lau, 1995) and Kampong Glam (Yeoh and Huang, 1996), little has been said about Singapore River although it is vested with important social memories for Singaporeans. Government intervention has modified the river noticeably since the Clean Rivers Project was launched in 1977. As with the places investigated in the other studies, there is cause to doubt whether local Singaporeans accept and identify with the new landscape.