IN_THE_NAME_OF_PROGRESS

The proposal leverages the Penang state’s willingness to offer the construction of new fishing jetties for all 6 affected villages to compensate for the fishermen’s losses from the PSR reclamation megaproject. The architect’s role is to convince the state with a legitimate jetty proposal for the fishermen’s community that will eventually evolve away from fishery as the main source of income into ship repainting & cleaning port in return for full support on the state’s megaproject. Little does the state know, the jetty typology is designed to retrofit into infrastructure that supports the act of piracy in the Straits of Malacca, should economic situations become dire.

该提案利用了马来西亚槟州政府愿意为所有 6 个受大型填土工程影响的渔村建造新渔码头的意愿。建筑师会提议将该码头主要经济来源会从渔业转变为船舶重新喷漆和清洁港口，以换取渔民对政府填土工程的全力支持。码头的新用途视乎以海盗行为相识，好让“渔民”在困难时期有另一个经济来源，取回渔民在社会的地位。

花园城市的人造寓言

Authoring Nature ; A Fable of Singapore

信義大裂谷

Xinyi Rift

尋找另一種時間

In Search of Alternate Time

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#王志凱WanZhiKai
#(RE)GAINING_GROUNDS:IN_THE_NAME_OF_PROGRESS
The thesis is a critical reflection and a commentary on our relationship with differing definitions of developmental progress. Our desire to perfect our own definitions of inferiority often equates to having righteous access to dignity, choices, and power. For a society of differing beliefs and cultures to co-exist, the language of progress becomes of sacrifices and compromises a community must make for one another.

Set in the controversial megaproject of the 4,500-acre land reclamation of Penang South Islands, it promises substantial economic returns, a new frontier to uphold the state’s title as “the Silicon Valley of the East”. However, thousands of artisanal fishermen who depend on the southern coast for a living see this as a threat to their community’s existence, doubtful if their welfare would be safeguarded without strong political and economic importance to the state. Protestation occurs among the fishermen’s community to regain the right of choice, while the state continues to provide incentives for supportive fishermen to preserve their image for potential investors. The interplay of power dynamics ensues, and the thesis hypothesizes two scenarios in which the marginalized fishermen’s community would preserve their autonomy.

The proposal leverages the state’s willingness to offer the construction of new fishing jetties for all 6 affected villages as part of a compensation package for the fishermen’s losses. The architect’s role is to convince the state with a legitimate jetty proposal for the fishermen’s community that will eventually evolve away from fishery as the main source of income into ship repainting & cleaning port as they fully support the state’s megaproject. Riding on the trend of impoverished artisanal fishermen from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand conducting opportunistic piracy or pawns within an international syndicate of oil siphoning within the maritime choke point Straits of Malacca, the jetty typology is designed to retrofit into infrastructure that supports the act of piracy, should situations become dire. In this polemical scenario, the community achieves its autonomy in social progress by sacrificing legality and morality.

The architect becomes a curator of events at different points in time, informed by a critical analysis of the controversy’s context and culture, to grant leverage and preserve the community’s coastal livelihood. Existing in this manner becomes a rejection of top-down dominance, a novel form of rebellion. This research-informed outcome of the proposal, which suggests that the community should progress into non-fishing-related businesses yet occasionally supplemented by oil theft in its margins of error, is meant to be polemical in nature, yet a rational decision given the circumstances.

Afterword
This realistic projection displays the community’s resilience and struggles to regain control of the sea, not through demonstrations and propaganda but through deliberate leverage and an understanding of global economic trends. The idiosyncrasy of both lies in leveraging a legally, morally and socially ambiguous method to achieve the community’s own definition of progress. Through this, the architect’s role becomes more than an advocate for modifiable structures, but also a mediator and strategist of sensitive tensions, with knowledge of each party’s wants and needs, to be able to leverage the existing conditions and produce a mutually beneficial outcome.

這篇論文是與我們有對於發展進步不同定義的批判性反思與評論。我們對於完善自己在劣勢時對定義的渴望，往往等同於擁有對尊嚴、選擇和權力的正當獲取權。對於一個擁有不同信仰和文化的社會而言，發展中的語言變成了社群中的犧牲和妥協。
上述文字描述了位於爭議中的槟城南部島嶼4,500英畝土地填海工程的情境，這一計劃承諾帶來可觀的經濟回報，並為該州提供一個新的前景，旨在維持其“東方矽谷”的稱號。然而，依賴南部海岸謀生的數千名手工漁民將此視為對他們社區生存的威脅，並懷疑在沒有強大政治和經濟支持的情況下，他們的福祉是否能夠得到保障。漁民社區發起抗議，爭取重獲選擇的權利，而州政府則繼續為支持該計劃的漁民提供獎勵措施，以維護其形象。隨著權力動態的交織，本論文假設了兩種情境，其中邊緣化的漁民社區能夠保持其自治權。

這個提案利用了州政府願意為所有6個受影響村莊建設新的漁港碼頭，作為漁民損失的賠償方案的一部分。建築師的角色是說服州政府，提出一個合法的碼頭提案，旨在幫助漁民社區，並最終將其從以漁業為主要收入來源轉型為船舶重漆和清潔港口，從而完全支持州政府的巨型項目。這個提案借助來自印尼、馬來西亞和泰國的貧困手工漁民，他們在馬六甲海峽這一海上交通要道中，可能會進行機會主義性的海盜行為，或成為國際石油盜取集團的棋子。因此，碼頭的設計考慮到未來可能需要改造為支持海盜行為的基礎設施，以應對情勢惡化。在這一爭議性情境中，社區通過犧牲合法性和道德性來實現其在社會進步中的自治權。
建築師在不同的時間點成為事件的策展人，通過對爭議背景和文化的批判性分析，為社區的沿海生計提供支持並保持其優勢。雖然以這種方式存在，實際上是對自上而下的支配的拒絕，一種新型的反叛。這一基於研究的提案結果建議，社區應該轉型進入與漁業無關的業務，儘管偶爾會在邊緣地帶補充油盜行為，這本質上具有爭議性，但在當前情勢下，這是一個理性的決定。
後話
這一現實的投射展示了社區的韌性與重新掌控海洋的掙扎，掌控權是透過一定的影響力和對全球經濟趨勢的理解，而非依賴示威和宣傳。這種方法的特異性在於利用一種法律、道德和社會上都模糊的方式，來實現社區對進步的自我定義。通過這一過程，建築師的角色不僅是可修改結構的倡導者，更是敏感張力的調解者和策略家，擁有了解各方需求和期望的能力，從而能夠利用現有條件，達成互利的結果。

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