Singapore Is Rewriting the Rules for Global Cities

Singapore Is Rewriting the Rules for Global Cities

Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, UBS Group AG: Global capital’s gleaming logos dominate the night skyline of Singapore’s central business district. They don’t have the vista from a balcony at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino to themselves, however. Nestled among them, competing for eyeballs, is a tower bearing the logo of the National Trades Union Congress. Local lenders and property developers also jostle for attention.

Long a beacon for planet-spanning corporations, a sanctuary of administrative stability in a volatile neighborhood and a template for global cities, Singapore is undergoing a subtle but significant reorientation. It still wants foreign investment and is keen as ever to retain its status as a hub: Ministers assure companies they are welcome and insist Singapore won’t turn its back on the world. Yet those soothing incantations now come with an important caveat: The republic sounds far less enthusiastic about the talent that those prized firms want to bring with them.

Instead, Singapore’s leaders find themselves focusing increasingly on social cohesion. A series of race-related incidents and violence have played across domestic media this year. Concerns about a growing wealth gap are prompting consideration of a wealth tax on local tycoons and the many well-heeled globetrotters