Participatory Design to Co-create Community Spaces

The extensiveness of public housing in Singapore, where more than 80% of its residential population lives, underscores the importance of the design and provision of shared amenities and communal spaces in shaping social bonding. Building social resilience in neighbourhoods has to do with creating opportunities for residents to interact on the assumption that residents who are socially connected in their immediate neighbourhood are also more likely to be involved in helping others and in contributing to the well-being of the neighbourhood. This chapter discusses a research project that aims to establish a participatory design approach to co-create community spaces in an existing neighbourhood. It is expected that the outcomes of this study will reveal key challenges in implementing participatory planning in local neighbourhood context and offer insights into potential avenues for strengthening community’s capacity to initiate collective action, which is essential to support long term social sustainability and resilience of neighbourhoods.