DEVELOPMENT OF ELDER CARE FACILITIES IN SINGAPORE: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DECIDE, ANNOUNCE AND DEFEND MODEL AND THE EVOLVING NEED FOR COLLABORATIVE PLANNING

Abstract

The government announced a master plan in 2012 to roll out new elder care facilities till 2016 in order to support a growing senior population in Singapore. However, this was met with numerous cases of opposition in neighbourhoods slated for elder care facility development. This phenomenon provides plenty of motivation for this paper’s research in the face of impending facilities all across the island. Evidently, the government’s choice for a decide, announce and defend planning model is inadequate in terms of understanding the public. Rather, the perceived ignorant and self-interested opposition has a good grasp of the situation and a spectrum of concerns that include legitimate reasons of communal nature. Furthermore, it is crucial to understand how the public is further influenced by demographics and ideological beliefs, thus generalisations would not do justice to their opinions. This evidently calls for a more collaborative approach towards planning communal facilities. This paper uses an in depth survey of the concerns faced by the residents at Bishan Street 13 where a nursing home has been slated for development. The intention is to use this particular case study to draw inferences for the rest of the affected neighbourhoods slated for elder care facility development. The results obtained confirm literature findings that depicted an informed community, with wide ranging concerns. The community’s attitude towards collaborative planning is also investigated and provides plenty of evidence and motivation that increased emphasis on citizen engagement and empowerment is needed. The inevitable increase of elderly population in Singapore means that issues of public support and opposition have to be addressed and diverse publics meaningfully engaged.