Since 1965, when it became a fully independent city-state, Singapore has been an effervescent laboratory of economic, social and environmental transformation and innovation. The government of the small island republlc, which currently covers about 720 sq km, has thoroughly transformed and extended the lands under its control to serve the needs and ambitions of its citizens. The systematic overhaul of the Singaporean environment reflects a deliberate policy of social transformation, a revolution controlled and monitored from above.

While Singapore's achievements in the realm of...