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Final Year Project
LASALLE College of the Arts
Year: 2021
Inspired by actual Residents’ Handbooks that used to be distributed by HDB in the
70’s, this publication establishes the current state of spatial practices & social order
in HDB estates by exploring the notions of acceptable/unacceptable spatial
practices in Singapore’s public spaces.
It uses a matter-of-fact and slightly
sarcastic tone to approach the topic in an approachable and humorous manner.
An inquiry into spatial practices in public spaces in Singapore’s public housing estates, or colloquially known as HDB flats (Housing & Development Board), in order to explore how the accessibility, provision and design of public spaces relates to social processes and relations in Singaporean society.
Focus groups with residents aged between 18 – 35 were conducted to hear from the residents’ thoughts and feelings towards their neighbourhood.
Adopting the Situationists’ technique of dérive as the primary research method, multiple hour-long walks were conducted in the neighbourhoods of Yew Tee and Punggol over various days at different times of day.
After conducting the primary research, here are 3 of the key insights:
1.
Public spaces in HDB estates cater more to elderly & children; causing adults to identify more with commercial areas – thereby reinforcing their economic role as a consumer.
2.
The role of a consumer is manifested through the designation of commercial centres as the central hub for every residential neighbourhood – a decision driven by practical and economic reasons, yet shapes the social identity of people.
3.
Fragmentation and governance of public spaces limits spatial practices to a few prescriptive activities. Alternative forms of use are disallowed and even frowned upon by the public.
To challenge the overtly pragmatic approach of public space provision
This research does not aim to provide solutions for urban planning or architectural issues. Instead, it seeks to utilise visual methods to examine spatial practices in public spaces. At the level of spatial practices, the desired social outcomes are not always translated after the actualisation of these planned spaces.
The project presents design outcomes that challenge the overly pragmatic approach to public space provision, design and accessibility in order to advocate for public spaces that are designed based on actual use; instead of political, architectural, land-use policy prerogatives.
Public space as a form of social resource
The research focuses on public spaces surrounding public housing as they are contentious spaces representing tensions between the desire for community identity and the fear of subversive use – making the institution of such spaces “a gamble” that has resulted in ambiguity, worry and concern. At the level of spatial practice, the desired social outcomes are not always translated after the actualisation of these planned spaces. Hence, studying these spaces will act as the vantage point into developing a greater understanding of space as a form of social resource in Singaporean society.
Right to the city
After decades of highly centralised, top-down decision-making, citizen participation has only been recently recognised as an impactful platform to include communities in the shaping of the urban environment. However, this participation does not extend to large scale new town planning. Instead, the new town planning models used to design HDB estates today exemplifies Foucault’s idea of the disciplinary mechanism; creating a hierarchy of public spaces rather than on actual use. Spatial practices of control and discipline are made reified by partitioning of space – from a hierarchy of types, into private enclaves through precincts and into their enclosed environments.
This design process ignores the social implications of a highly hierarchical planning approach that is displaced from the actual experience of its residents instead prioritising policial, architectural, land-use policy prerogatives. While this approach may enable new town design to work efficiently on a massive scale, the ‘softer’, intangible impacts are undermined.
This reveals a need to understand the spatial practices that emerge from cultural practices, activities and networking in order to truly understand how spaces are actually used, if planners are to create meaningful living public spaces.