LAND FOR COMMUNITY USE - A CASE OF UNDERUTILIZATION?

Abstract

Among the many types of land use available in Singapore, land for community use, a planning concept and term coined by the Singapore Land Authority, has been introduced since 2003. The aim of this paper was to determine the likelihood of residents using the community use sites and to identify significant factors that might have undermined usage. Face-to-face surveys were conducted at 34 community use sites, covering 20 respondents per site. The responses were tested using the binary logistic regression model. Interestingly, findings show that there is an 80% chance of non-usage of the community use sites by residents. In particular, level of awareness, presence of events and presence of barriers were statistically significant factors found to have affected a resident’s usage of the sites. The odds of using the community use sites is 12.515 times higher if a resident is aware that the site can be used in the first place. Besides, for every unit increase in the presence of events, residents are 63.1% less likely to use the sites. It was also found that for every unit increase in the presence of barriers, residents are 79% less likely to use the sites. Following the results of the study, planning implications such as the lack of effective communication between planners and residents were raised. This study also calls for a flexible approach in planning for community use land, given that its nature is inherently different from other types of long-term land use in Singapore. The study also considered cultural differences in using these kind of open spaces in Singapore as compared to other countries as well as how the concept of sustainability may be applied in the context of land for community use.