Constructing National Landscapes. The Aesthetic of the Forest in Chandigarh and Singapore

The construction of a national identity in former colonies was a complex process that, among the different fields related to ideological and cultural production, involved also open space design and entailed a new perception of forested landscapes. Considered identifying symbols, trees played a crucial role in the construction and definition of a local image and were used to support narratives of the former colonies’ cultural uniqueness. Focusing on two parallel but autonomous large-scale projects based on the introduction of dense arboreal vegetation in the urban scene—the landscaping of Chandigarh and of Singapore—the paper explores the relation between urban trees, urban forests and strategies of self-affirmation in former British colonies.