As an older Singaporean, my initial response to turning Orchard into a live-work-play area was: are you joking? Personally, I find it a bit irritating because I recall a time when Orchard Road was a vibrant live-work-play area in Singapore. Back then unique subcultures found a place along the retail corridor, and Orchard Road resembled what Bugis / Midtown is like today. An Orchard Road scene that attracted young and old? Check. A time when people saw it as a place to really hang out with friends, or express themselves? Check. A time when it was as much about social events as it was about shopping? Most definitely. And as I recall, we made extensive efforts to stomp it all out. Consider the now demolished Ming Arcade. Today, most people who remember it at all will remember a run-down building with a KTV, or perhaps associate it with cheap beer buckets and...