Although there was an official enthusiasm for, and commitment to, highrise in Singapore, there was also, from the outset, considerable disquiet among ordinary people and critical experts, about the possible inappropriateness of highrise living. Key among these concerns was a worry about the emotional disorientations that might be produced by a loss of sense of place and changes in scale. This was a local variant of a wider-felt concern – held in both First World and developing contexts – with the psychic (and other) ill-effects of living in ‘anonymous’ and ‘standardized’ high-density and highrise living environments.