FUTURE INTEGRATED DORMITORIES IDEAL FOR FOREIGN WORKERS

Abstract

There is a large population of Foreign Workers in Singapore who lives in dormitories. These dormitories lack in facilities, causing Foreign Workers to travel out of their dormitories to attain the required facilities needed by them. This often causes ‘nimby’ sentiments among residents of nearby neighbourhoods. Overcrowding of Foreign Workers also occurs in Little India, Golden Mile and Lucky Plaza. Open public spaces and forests are also turned into recreational sports by them. The objective of this dissertation is to study the availability of facilities in current dormitories. It also examines the satisfaction level and health condition of Foreign Workers prior to the living condition of the dormitories. Future facilities for an ideally self-sufficient dormitory will also be explored. “More emphasis should be placed in integrating the needs of Foreign Workers into the dormitories to make it self-sufficient, thus increasing their productivity levels”, is the hypothesis of this research. The validation of this hypothesis would be based on the data obtained from the site-visits, interview sessions and survey questionnaire. It was found that Foreign Workers are indeed more satisfied with dormitories which provide more facilities. They are also healthier when the living condition of the dormitories is better. Satisfaction and health affects productivity. Therefore it is important to integrate the facilities needed by these Foreign Workers into the dormitories to make it self-sufficient, creating a sense of belonging to their dormitories.