IDENTITY FOR A TOWN: ATTEMPTS BY TOWN COUNCILS

Abstract

Before the introduction of town councils, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) was the sole estate manager of the public housing it had built over the years. But as the HDB was a highly centralised public housing authority, its decisions with regard to estate management had to be applied uniformly throughout all the estates it was managing, resulting in the lacking of visual identity in the estates and new towns. On top of it, the centralised management system provides little opportunities for the HDB residents to participate in the management of their estates. The setting up of town councils acts not only as a means to encourage residents on the housing estates to take more responsibility for their home and environment, it is hope that "local autonomy" would eventually help each town to develop its distinct character and identity. Hence the aim of this study is to find out how each town council, over the years, has attempted to create an identity for the town it is managing. The study has shown that even though there are attempts by the town councils to create identity for the town, only half of the residents know which town they belong to. However factors such as impermanence of the town boundaries often hinder the formation of town identity.