Experiences from a community nature project in a housing estate in Singapore

Abstract

A city farm concept called the Nature Corner project, which involves both animals and plants, was initiated in Ghim Moh housing estate, Singapore, in 1997. The objectives of the community project were to introduce nature to residents and to encourage social interaction. The paper analyses the project's set-up, assesses the funding, maintenance and other issues involved and discusses the findings of a 1998 sample survey of users and non-users of the project. It was found from the survey that the project has been quite successful in introducing nature to users but less successful in encouraging social interaction among them.