COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN OPEN SPACE PLANNING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

There is a growing consciousness for Singapore to promote community participation in order to plan for social sustainability. Social sustainability engenders the presence of social equity and community sustainability.

In the context of open space planning in Singapore, it is observed that social equity could be realized through infrastructural developments like the park connector network. Ensuring community sustainability, however, could be more challenging. The author observes how institutionalised parks like Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park often lack a park community or a community identity; communities/users are often fragmented. In contrast, contested open spaces like Bukit Brown Cemetery and Bottle Tree Park illustrate the potential for place-based communities to grow and sustain.

The dissertation is thus an attempt to understand contributory factors of sustainable communities in open spaces in Singapore. How community participation could play a role or what constitutes ‘authentic’ participation is also being explored. Data generation and analysis was carried out based on the grounded theory methodology. Through case studies and interviews, the author makes the case for plan-making with existing communities, mainstreaming different conceptions of the Park, and designing a planning process that could encourage participation of the common citizen. Central Park in New York City was also used as an international case study as it illustrates innovative park management practices (e.g. public-private partnership between Central Park Conservancy and the City of New York, use of social media to promote public participation), which serve as relevant learning points for the parks in Singapore.