The flaneur is by tradition defined as 'an idle man-about-town', endowed with enormous leisure. He is someone who can take off a morning or afternoon for undirected ambling, since a specific goal or a close rationing of time is antithetical to the true spirit of the flaneur.

The flaneur refuted any driving desire to see everything and meet anyone of recognized value, but rather, as Walter Benjamin explained, the flaneur was in search of experience, not knowledge. Most experience ended up interpreted as – and replaced by – knowledge, but for the flaneur the experience remains somehow pure, useless, raw. In Benjamin’s words: "intoxication comes over the man who walks long and aimlessly through the streets. With each step, the walk takes on greater momentum; even weaker grow the temptations of shops, of bistros, of smiling women, even more irresistible the magnetism of the next street corner, of a distant mass of foliage of a street name."

The contemporary flaneur is in the realm of the unreal. He exists in the condition of the Post Modern. His timeless gaze elevates the sub-conscious and the irrational. His experience energizes the understanding the subalterns and urban discontents. It gives new meaning to chaos, rumours and surprises, as well as to deviant behaviours and new lifestyles of the young . Can the contemporary flaneur effectively function in the contradicting world of the cosmopolitan city? What mechanisms should he equip or not equip himself with to glocalize the pace of his existence amidst the time compression of late capitalism? Spaces of indeterminacy might provide some of these answers. It is here where the flaneur fully takes flight.

Rapid urbanization, particularly in the Asian region, has necessitated the substantial physical extension with urban statements based on modernist planning theories. Planners systematically remove or destroy existing city fabrics that have acted as containers of history and societal-bound values and cultures. At the same time, over the last decades, conservation of historical areas has gained increasing acceptance. However, these areas have often been gentrified and more recently commodified with themeparkism .

When properties are no longer considered economically viable or become dilapidated, they are inevitably subjected to demolition and reconstruction. In the context of the modern narrative, especially in the capitalist society, their physical existence is therefore only tolerated as remnants of the past. However, these spaces are often unique and chaotic. They are rugged in nature and are able to withstand rapid usage changes, fragmented idiotic design expressions and uncompromisingly irrational spatial arrangements. This random impulsive self-regulated environment continuously adds chaos to chaos in the most exciting and surprising manner. If left alone, they are conditioned to withstand the impact of globalisation.
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William Lim Born in 1932, graduated from the Architectural Association (AA) and continued his graduate study at the Department of City and Regional Planning, Harvard University. In 1981 he founded William Lim Associates (WLA) a practice which encourages architects to discover their own design directions, and demands their critical evaluation of the current intellectual and architectural discourse as well as their adaptations to suit local conditions. He is responsible for initiating the Singapore Heritage Society (1988-1997) and AA Asia in 1987 based on the spirit of and inspired by the School of Architecture, Architectural Association (London). Lim has recently been appointed Chairman of the Asian Contemporary Arts Centre at LaSalle College of the Arts. He is the author of several books including Equity and Urban Environment in the Third World - with special reference to ASEAN Countries and Singapore (1975); An Alternative Urban Strategy (1980); Cities for People : reflections of a South East Asian Architect (1990); Contemporary Vernacular: evoking traditions in Asian Architecture, co-author with Tan Hock Beng (1997); Asian New Urbanism (1998) and Alternatives in Transition (2001, forthcoming).