EXAMINING THE SUCCESS OF PUBLIC HOUSING (HDB) BLOCK TYPOLOGY AS A POLICY TOOL TO INCREASE SOCIAL CAPITAL

Abstract

In view of increasing population diversity, social capital is valued as a strategic factor in ensuring Singapore’s political and economic stability. Few studies on public housing have investigated the topic from a design perspective. Much of them explored this issue by studying the roles of social spaces in the neighborhood, with few researches conducted on the block design elements embedded in the different public housing typologies. As such, this dissertation aims to discuss, analyze and evaluate the policy tool of block typology in increasing social capital of Singaporeans.

In-depth interviews conducted with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) planner and senior mediator from Community Mediation Centre, as well as 214 surveys carried out with HDB residents from five planning regions, found that while block typology does not exert a significant effect on the level of social capital at the neighborhood level, it affects the willingness of residents to interact. Specifically, a rigorous analysis of the role of social spaces within HDB blocks was carried out. Notably, privacy demand was found to have an inverse relationship with the quality of social interaction. It is further suggested that the quantity of neighborliness was subjected to influence of changing lifestyle patterns, which varied across different demographic groups.

Therefore, while it is concluded that the type of housing block design had a significant impact on the nature of neighborly interactions, there exists a crucial need to refine the housing block typology policy by exploring the possibility of engaging potential homeowners in the germinal stage of housing programming to achieve better outcomes.