February 1, 2023

The Housing Development Board (HDB) was set up on 1 February 1960. Until recently, the planning process of HDB flats has been largely led by the state, with little participation by private residents. However, participatory planning advocates argue that participation in local neighbourhoods enhances social cohesion and brings many other benefits. 

In ‘Participatory Design to Co-create Community Spaces’ (in Building Resilient Neighbourhoods in Singapore (2020)), Associate Professor Im Sik Cho (NUS Architecture) and Associate Professor Ho Kong Chong (NUS Sociology, Yale-NUS, and Asia Research Institute) examined a research project that aims to establish a participatory design approach to co-create community spaces in an existing neighbourhood. Through discussing the project, they sought to identify key challenges in implementing participatory planning in a local neighbourhood context and potential avenues for strengthening a community’s capacity to initiate collective action.

The research project adopted a ‘three-pronged’ approach to community building in an existing public housing neighbourhood, encompassing not only the physical but also the programmatic and organisational aspect of the neighbourhood. In order to facilitate active participation of the community in the building of their neighbourhood spaces, a participatory design method was taken. Researchers were actively engaged in the community design process, and all data gathered from each individual action was reflected back to the whole research process to improve the designed mechanism.

The engagement process with residents involved four major events. Firstly, it involved setting up pop-up booths along commonly visited areas in the neighbourhood, so that the project could reach out to a larger community. Secondly, a focus group discussion was held to collect ideas on neighbourhood improvements. Thirdly, a design workshop was held to further elaborate and develop these ideas. Finally, a co-creation art event that involved the residents in the actual construction of the design typologies of the neighbourhood was held.

To measure the effect of the project, a group of sociologists went to observe and survey whether there were any changes in the interaction pattern among the residents and in the usage of community spaces. They found that those who participated in the organised events were different from the passers-by – they were more likely to think that their efforts would make their neighbourhood a better place, and they could identify room for improvement.

Furthermore, among the repeat participants, the most significant result is they became more supportive of the idea that any improvement can be managed by the government. This could entail greater confidence in local authorities, but it could also mean that the participants were frustrated after the participation process and decided to leave the matter to the government. Besides mindset shifts, the study also found that the building of new infrastructure, such as a café and a garden in the neighbourhood, could boost social interaction among the community.

The authors concluded that a resilient neighbourhood requires participation by local residents in a sustained manner. A collaborative platform is crucial to maintain residents’ participation, to grow and transform neighbourhood resources, and to mediate between stakeholders. A good understanding of the local circumstances is also important.

Read the chapter here: https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811370472