GES1003/GESS1001

CHANGING LANDSCAPES OF SINGAPORE

AY2025/2026 SEMESTER 1

Final Take-Home Assignment (30%)

Note: Updates made on 27 October 2025 in blue font

Aims of the Assignment

To assess students’

•    application of the concepts of space, place and scale to examine how power shapes and changes a selected landscape

•    understanding of how power shapes the art, economic, family/community, and immigration landscapes of Singapore

• ability to observe and visually represent power in landscapes

Important, please note

1.  You are to work independently for this assignment.

2.  You must include academic reference to substantiate your arguments.

3.  The word count includes in-text citations, titles, sub-titles, captions, footnotes/endnotes.

4.  The word count excludes the reference list.

5.  The assignment is to be submitted into the Turnitin folder ‘Final Take-home Assignment Submission’ the ‘Assignments’ page via Canvas.

6.  Your assignment must be submitted into the Turnitin folder on Canvas no later than 5pm on 14 November 2025 (Friday, Week 13). Marks will be deducted for submissions later than this date. Requests for extensions will not be considered unless you have a medical certificate or other official documentation.

Instructions

This assessment consists of three parts.

Part 1: Visually represent a landscape & explain the rationale

(1) You will take one photograph that captures the exercise of power and/or inequality

within a landscape or place in Singapore. Collages of two or more photographs are not allowed. Do not use an image that is taken off the internet.

The photograph must relate to the lectures conducted during the latter part of the course, i.e. arts, economic, elderly, family/community, immigration and public housing landscapes in Singapore. Your photograph needs to relate to at least two of these landscapes.

Since all landscapes are interrelated, previously taught landscapes may feature in your photograph, e.g. green landscapes. BUT you will be assessed for your understanding of the six landscapes that are bolded and listed above.

(2)  Next, you will write a 300-word explanation of why you photographed the particular

place/landscape and what aspects of power and/or inequality you intended to convey through the image. Make sure to provide references for your justifications. This write-up would be similar to the photo analyses you conducted for your group project. There is a penalty for exceeding the word count by more than 10%.

Part 2: Generate an Ai interpretation of your photograph

(1)  Turn on the Temporary Chat mode on ChatGPT. See the red square in Figure 1. Using

the free version of ChatGPT is more than adequate for this part of the assessment.

Figure 1: How to enable temporary chat mode

(2)  Feed your photograph and the following prompt into the temporary chat in ChatGPT: Analyse this image for patterns of power and inequality that shape the landscape in 250 words. Do not upload the write-up you did in Part 1 into ChatGPT

(3)  Take a screenshot of the Ai-generated analysis of your photograph. Your screenshot should look like the image below in Figure 2. Please note that the photograph I have uploaded is intentionally unrelated to any landscapes covered in the course.

Make sure that the screenshot shows that you have used a temporary chat. A temporary chat ensures that your previous course-related chats do not affect the way ChatGPT analyses your photograph. There will be a penalty if the temporary chat logo is not visible in your screenshot.

(4)  Copy-paste the ChatGPT output in the Word document that you will be submitting as your final assignment.

Figure 2: Sample of your screenshot ensuring the temporary chat mode is visible

Part 3: Analyse the Ai interpretation of your image

(1) Students will submit a 700-word analysis of the Ai- generated interpretation by responding to the following questions:

• In what ways does the AI’s interpretation of power relations differ from the

conceptual approaches to power that we have discussed in GES1003/GESS1001?"

•    If applicable, what are the overlaps with Ai’s interpretation of power and what we have discussed in the course?

•    Suggest three ways in which the concepts of space, place and scale can be integrated to improve this interpretation.

There is a penalty for exceeding the word count by more than 10%.

(2)  For ease of analysis, you are strongly encouraged to mark your ChatGPT output with numbered highlights as seen below. Please adhere to the legend provided below. You can add other highlights that you think are relevant to your analysis.

Legend

Requires better integration of geographical and/or power concepts

Incorrect or inaccurate statement

A different interpretation from what I intended

This image presents a playful miniature scene—a small shelter containing a plush avocado seated on a swing, flanked by two toy construction workers, with a popsicle stick engraved “WISH YOU GOOD LUCK & GOOD GPA” and a bright flower atop the roof. While whimsical, it subtly reflects how power and inequality manifest in everyday landscapes.

The shelter is built atop a weathered concrete or utility structure, likely part of public infrastructure. This suggests that even mundane or overlooked spaces become sites of human expression [1]. However, the choice of figurines — construction workers positioned outside while the avocado rests comfortably inside—echoes real-world hierarchies. The “workers” appear to support or guard the central figure, implying service or protection roles for laborers versus leisure for the central “character.” [2] The avocado, a trendy symbol often associated with youth culture and middle-class identity, becomes the focal “occupant,” while the workers—clad in safety helmets—remain peripheral. This unintentionally reproduces class distinctions [3]: those who maintain the built environment versus those who enjoy its comforts.

The handwritten message —“GOOD LUCK & GOOD GPA” —signals an academic aspiration narrative that privileges educational success as a pathway to upward mobility. Yet this hope is placed atop visibly decaying infrastructure [4], hinting at broader systemic neglect: while individuals strive, the collective foundation erodes.

Altogether, the image captures how landscapes—even in miniature —encode societal values [5]. Labor is imagined as supportive yet invisible [5]; aspiration belongs to the individual; and care is expressed decoratively rather than structurally [5]. The installation is charming, but its charm rests atop unexamined hierarchies.

(3)  In your analysis you can refer to specific sections as Yellow1, Pink2 or Blue3 instead of directly quoting these highlighted words. This strategy may help you occasionally save words to convey your own views and also make it easier for the marker to identify the points you are critiquing. Below is an example of how to incorporate the highlights into your analysis:

While ChatGPT interprets the image as merely a site of human expression, considering that the makeshift bell curve altar is made of cardboard and was frequently removed by the university ground staff, it can be considered an alternative landscape that conveys the anxieties of students during the finals period. The description in Pink4 is not related to my interpretation of the image nor what I believe the creator of the makeshift altar intended. The cardboard structure is not symbolic of a decaying infrastructure, instead as indicated in Blue5 it encapsulates the dominant ideologies promoted by the state such as striving for excellence, albeit the stresses it also generates.

Check List

Make sure your final assignment includes the following components in the order it has been listed:

o Image – The photograph you took of a place/landscape

o Rationale – Your justification for the photo choice – maximum of 300 words, excluding references

o Screenshot – A screenshot of the ChatGPT generated output on a temporary chat

o ChatGPT Output – Copy-pasted into the Word document (possibly with highlights)

o Critical Analysis – maximum of 700 words, excluding references

o Reference List

Marking Criteria

•    Well-substantiated discussion of the ways in which power is exerted through landscapes (30% weightage)

•    Ability to identify the gaps and/or misinterpretations in the Ai-generated interpretation of the photo (30% weightage)

• Accurate understanding and application of geographical concepts (20% weightage)

•    Suitability of photos and how specific reference is made to photos in your explanation. (10 % weightage)

•    Quality of references, formatting of paper and language: provide at least five academic references (they can be taken from your course reading list, but make sure they are all not chapters from the textbook), decide how best to format the paper (e.g. use of headings, placement of photos, labeling), well-written (grammar, sentence structure, flow). (10% weightage)

Policy on Plagiarism and Use of AI for Assessments

How to Avoid Plagiarism

All written work for this assessment must include

(i) in-text citations within the body of the essay

(ii) a reference list of the in-text citations at the end of the essay and titled ‘References’.

Refer to the links below for a clear explanation of what these are and how to do them according to APA style.

•    On in-text citations:

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/paraphrasing

•    On Referencing:

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

You can use any reference style you wish, e.g. MLA, Chicago. However, please ensure that you have adopted the same format consistently. Please note that in-text citations and referencing are compulsory. Failure to do so is considered PLAGIARISM.  A FAIL grade will be given to students who fail to comply. Please spend some time finding out about plagiarism by going to the following link to ensure that you do not ‘plagiarise’ unknowingly and risk getting penalised:

https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/new2nus/acadintegrity

Guidance on Using AI

Remember that plagiarism is not simply the copying of another person’s words, it also includes copying another person’s ideas and passing them off as yours. Therefore, if you are using AI such as ChatGPT and submitting work without proper citation and references, this is considered plagiarism.

If you are using AI to supplement your learning such as searching for more information about concepts and various places in and landscapes of Singapore, please bear in mind that AI’s tendency to create fabricate or “hallucinate” references is well documented (see

https://teche.mq.edu.au/2023/02/why-does-chatgpt-generate-fake-references/). This means that outputs generated by AI can have errors.

The assignments of this course are intended to assess your comprehension of the content and ability to make connections to your own everyday life and experiences. Since there are numerous interpretations for concepts such as place, power, hegemony, I would advise you to refer to the lectures, readings and/or talk to the teaching team to make sure that your learning is correct. For real-life examples, find journal articles through search engines such as Google Scholar and refer credible sources such as newspapers.

If you do choose to use ChatGPT in your assignments, please use the citation format below for your essays.

Citation format: . . . 

E.g. OpenAI. ChatGPT. http://chat.openai.com. “What are some examples of multicultural conflicts in Singapore?”

[This format has been adopted from GESS1029/GES1041 Everyday Ethics in Singapore ChatGPT – Course Recommendations and Policies]

Finally, please refer the below which is extracted from ‘Guidelines on the Use of AI Tools

For Academic Work’, and do remember to refer this site to ensure that you are not

unintentionally plagiarizing: https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/new2nus/acadintegrity#s-lib- ctab-22144949-2

DO NOT USE AI TO PLAGIARIZE

The following are always improper uses of AI tools:

• Generating an output and presenting it as your own work or idea.

•  Generating an output, paraphrasing it, and then presenting the output as your own work or idea.

•   Processing an original source not created by yourself to plagiarize it (e.g., using an AI paraphrasing tool to disguise someone else’s original work, or even the output of an AI tool, and then presenting the final output as your own work or idea).

All of the above violate NUS policies on academic honesty and anyone found to have done any of them will be dealt with accordingly.

Keep in mind that even though AI tools are not authors and thus cannot be harmed by someone stealing an idea from them, it’s still wrong of you to represent yourself as having produced something when you didn’t produce it.