I have spent time in Singapore, decades ago. Singapore does not change. It lives on commerce, people are its only resource.
Emeryville is a small independent city in the East Bay of San Francisco nested between Berkeley and Oakland.
There are no size similarities between the two. Singapore is a city state of 5 million people on a 15 by 15 mile island barely connected by mud flats to Malaysia.
Emeryville is a tiny city that's only about a mile by mile with 10,000 people.
They are both pure commercial entities. Both are covered with businesses and business is the sole reason for their existence.
What is so interesting is that they are thriving places. They are alive, dynamic and prosperous.
Right next to each of these is a moribund world. Next to Singapore is Malaysia an Islamic country that is mired in poverty and corruption. Singapore is honest and non-corrupt almost to a fault.
Emeryville is surrounded by Berkeley, a modest version of Cuba, where the rich people live on the hills and the poor people live on the flats and businesses are hated. Oakland is the other major neighbor. Oakland most closely resembles Nigeria with out of control crime, corruption and a strong hatred for commerce.
Can anyone think of a pure government town that is ‘alive, dynamic and prosperous? Brazilia, Juneau, Springfield, Augusta, Salem?
I only point out the similarity between Emeryville and Singapore for those people who are too dense to understand that commerce is the only source of prosperity on the planet. Government that is not in love with commerce means corruption, crime and poverty.