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How might we utilize empty void decks to rekindle the kampong culture?

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The diminishment of the kampung spirit has been a prevalent issue in Singapore since the introduction of Housing and Development (HDB) residences. This can be largely attributed to the lack of common spaces in new HDB blocks, which results in a decrease in the number of interactions between residents. (Tan, 2017)

 

This issue is further exacerbated by the rapid advancement of technology. The increasing usage of the internet has seen most Singaporeans spending most of their time indoors tethered to their screens (Lagman, 2022).  As a result, most Singaporeans rarely ever exchange words with their neighbours, suffice for the occasional smile and nod in their direction.

 

The evolution of technology has indubitably brought about unquantifiable improvements to the general quality of life. However, the convenience brought about by technology can be seen as a double-edged sword. For instance, even seeking medical attention has become an instantaneous process: the rise of telemedicine allows patients and medical professionals to communicate virtually by means of phone consultations, with medication delivered to one’s doorstep if deemed necessary, eliminating transportation costs and allows for better time management (Sharma et al., 2021). With these basic needs being met by technology, most people hardly ever find a reason to even step outdoors, which further minimises the interactions with other members of their community.

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While the kampung spirit is known to most as the embodiment of community spirit, the benefits of a strong community spirit are unbeknownst to most.

 

A strong kampung spirit presents an opportunity for collective growth among other things. Open conversations, community activities and mutual support made possible through interacting with other members of one’s community act as a catalyst for collective learning and growth.

 

Furthermore, community spaces provide an avenue for shared experiences and conversations. By exchanging perspectives, opinions and expertise, members of the community receive an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and apply it in their lives (FairForce, 2021).

 

In addition, the sense of belonging that is closely associated with a strong kampong spirit yields several benefits to one’s mental health.

 

According to a study conducted on the relation between mental health and the strength of one’s sense of belonging, a strong sense of belonging can generally be associated with better health, longevity, mental well-being and recovery from diseases.

 

In contrast, a weak sense of belonging can often lead to certain mental health problems, namely depression and anxiety. It is also closely linked to other issues such as stress and loneliness. For older adults in particular, evidence has suggested that a weak sense of belonging is often related to depression, feelings of hopelessness and even suicide ideation (Allen et al., 2021).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8008535/ 

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The kampung spirit refers to the sense of community and solidarity, and is an important piece of Singapore’s heritage. (“Blast from the Past: Kampung Spirit”, 2020)

 

Our group intends to make use of underutilised community spaces to foster a greater sense of belonging within a community, or in other words, to rediscover and rekindle the diminishing kampong spirit.

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Research phase:

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For our secondary research, we set out to identify existing government and non-government community engagement projects, review how past projects were designed and their effectiveness, discover potential community project funds and collaborators, and find out various factors that affect the kampung culture.

For our primary research, we wanted to survey community needs, strengths, wants, concerns, learn about the planning and executing process of past projects by RC and HDB, and pitch and receive feedback on feasibility of our proposed ideas.

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To conduct our secondary research, we had two channels - formal sources and informal sources. Formal sources include news articles from international and reliable news agencies such as The Straits Times and TodayOnline, commentaries from Channel News Asia, and websites of relevant organisations. For informal sources, we also looked at blogs and forums to gain various perspectives from the community to better understand their concerns and needs.

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To conduct our primary research, we had three main channels of how we collected our data. Our first data collection method was face-to-face interviews with a Residents Committee Chairperson as well as an individual from the HDB Development Team taking charge of the Lively Placed Fund. For our online google survey, we included both closed-ended questions and open-ended questions to get a wider range of data. We also used conditional formatting to include different sections in the survey and to ensure a smoother flow for our respondents. We made use of snowball sampling where we told our friends whom we asked to complete the survey to send it out to their own friends so that we may have a better reach. Lastly, we conducted decentralised community mapping for our field observation. Keanne went to bedok and tampines, keith went to sengkang and yishun, sam went to jurong west, Haafiz went to jurong east and Kaven went to sengkang and punggol.

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Our research findings:

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The 3 Root Causes:

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Availability of Amenities

One of the main cause of underutilized void decks is the increase of new Amenities build around the community area, such as shopping malls - Jem, IMM etc. and chain supermarkets - Sheng Siong, NTUC etc. Due to the availability of these amenities, residents would choose to rather move away from their void decks and visit these places to purchase what they need/want. Some contributing factors that encourage residents to do so are the fact that they are air conditioned, items sold there are affordable and also, entertainment is provided. For example, cinemas, arcades and so on.

 

In addition, since residents would rather spend time in shopping malls, chain supermarkets etc. there is little to no chance for personal relationships formed between neighbours. The space is to vast to help force people to engage and interact with one another.

Thus, void decks are now seem to be useless - including mama shops as there are more better amenities available.

 

https://www.99.co/singapore/insider/5-factors-that-are-killing-hdbs-kampung-spirit/

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Independence > Interdependence

The second root cause for underutilized void decks is the growing independence of Singaporeans. Singapore’s society has been evolving over the years where people within communities now no longer depend each other for survival as compared to during the Kampung era. Residents now would rather retire to the privacy and comfort of their home.

 

According to the Graciousness Survey conducted by Singapore Kindness movement (SKM) in 2017, 13 percent of the 3,066 singaporeans surveyed said “they avoided greater neighbourliness as they wanted to maintain their privacy”

 

Additionally, residents now tend to spend time on leisure and entertainment by themselves. Therefore, due to the fact that there is no longer a need for residents to depend on each other, common spaces such as void decks are not utilized for communities to gather and interact.

 

https://www.99.co/singapore/insider/5-factors-that-are-killing-hdbs-kampung-spirit/

https://tnp.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/people-singapore-less-concerned-about-neighbourliness-survey

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Emergence of Digital Technology

Lastly, a critical cause for underutilized void decks is the emergence of digital technology. It is reported that, out of Singapore’s 5.61 million population, 4.83 million were ‘online’ in the internet in 2018, and more than half of them are considered active users. Due to the growing of internet and digital technology with more applications and services being introduced, residents would rather spend time on their devices than going out and interacting with their neighbours.

 

On average, people spend more than 12 hours on their devices daily which really affected the ‘kampung culture’ in HDBs. Since there is a higher internet usage among singaporeans, there is a lower chance for personal interaction between them and their neighbours. Back in the day, people would usually meet physically with their neighbours to interact and catch up with each other, but nowadays, they just communicate through texts and DMs.

 

As result, residents no longer feel the need to go out and use their void decks to interact with their neighbours/people within their community

 

https://www.99.co/singapore/insider/5-factors-that-are-killing-hdbs-kampung-spirit/