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Community
Community Participatory Projects offer opportunities for residents to be involved in the design and building of community spaces in the heartlands. Over the years, HDB has worked with communities across several towns on various co-creation projects. Click on the links below to find out more!
Completed Projects
Ongoing Projects
The Siglap East’s Walls of Inspiration and Food Fiesta was one of the two winning ideas from the HDB Build-a-thon challenge in 2014. During this challenge, participants engaged residents from Siglap East (Bedok) to propose ideas on building better neighbourhoods. HDB then worked with the community to bring this winning idea to fruition. These two projects were supported by:
Residents of Siglap East designed and created six murals on the walls of their void decks, to spark conversations and encourage neighbourly interactions.
In 2015, residents of Siglap East came together to design and create six wall murals, with the intent to transform void deck walls into conversation nodes where neighbours can connect over shared interests. Each wall mural would have a theme, with an interactive board for residents to share information and feedback on their interests relating to its theme.
Through resident consultations, six themes were identified for the mural walls, namely: Sports, Art, Flora & Fauna, Ethnic, Food, and Travel.
Sports Wall Residents sketched their favourite sports on ceramic tiles before signing their initials on them. Over 1,000 tiles were created and mounted on the wall across 5 workshops.
Art Wall Residents expressed their creativity and neighbourhood identity by painting elements that symbolise Siglap East on the Art Wall.
Ethnic Wall To celebrate diversity in the Siglap East estate, residents were invited to bring personal items representing the various ethnic backgrounds, like musical instruments and childhood games, to a workshop where their neighbours sketched these items. The community’s sketches were then incorporated into the wall design.
Flora and Fauna Wall Residents were invited to produce sketches of their favourite flowers, which were later incorporated into a mural design that spread over 3 void deck pillars. The murals, created using paint and markers, feature the local flora and fauna in Singapore.
Food Wall Siglap East residents and Temasek Primary School students painted their favourite local delicacies on wooden plates. These wooden plates were then mounted on the wall, beautifully complemented by paintings done up by artists, and art teachers from Temasek Primary School.
Travel Wall Travel stories were collected from the community as residents shared anecdotes of their most memorable overseas trips and favourite travel destinations. Residents then came together in a workshop and painted the iconic landmarks of these destinations on wooden plates designed to resemble postcards. These “postcards” were mounted next to mural paintings of global travel landmarks.
Residents of Siglap East organised a Food Fiesta, to interact and bond over sharing and learning how to make traditional food together.
It’s sedap in Siglap! One interesting fact about Siglap East is that there are many mango trees around the neighbourhood, which is now a common identity that the community relates to. Residents also often meet at the residents’ corner of Blk 171, where the food wall is, to share food.
Expanding on the idea of using mangoes and food as a motivation to bring communities together, residents organised a Food Fiesta in October 2015, in conjunction with the unveiling of the completed Food Wall. Grassroots Adviser Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman graced the event and joined over 100 residents in celebrating their contributions towards the Siglap East’s Walls of Inspiration project.
Residents also demonstrated how they would use the Food Wall to interact with their neighbours and posed proudly with the wooden plates that were painted by them.
To encourage greater inter-ethnic understanding and a deeper appreciation of each other’s culture, residents taught fellow neighbours how to wrap vegetarian dumplings, weave ketupat cases, and blend mango lassi. Games, fruits, and popiah-making sessions were also prepared by the grassroots leaders for the Siglap East community.
Residents celebrating the completion of Siglap East's Food Wall
Residents with the wooden plates they painted
Residents learning from neighbours how to make traditional food
Residents bonding with neighbours through the sharing of food
The idea of a community-built playground was the other winning idea arising from the HDB Build-a-thon challenge in 2014. HDB, together with PA/ Grassroots and partnering schools, engaged Canberra residents to realise Singapore’s first community-built playground.
Over 2,000 Canberra residents joined us in conceptualising, designing, and assembling the first community-built playground in Singapore. Completed on 7 January 2018, the chosen treehouse-kelong inspired playground theme reflects the heritage of Sembawang – an area once dotted with fishing villages in its past. Take a look at our video to find out more!
We are now extending the Build-A-Playground initiative to more HDB towns. Residents from Choa Chu Kang, Toa Payoh, Pasir Ris, and Woodlands can soon look forward to designing and building your own playgrounds too.
In 2013, HDB, together with the National University of Singapore, engaged Tampines residents to design their very own Social Linkway and Neighbourhood Incubator that encourages community bonding.
HDB collaborated with the National University of Singapore to study how neighbourhoods can be better designed to encourage community bonding. Two new design ideas were put to test in Tampines: the Social Linkway and the Neighbourhood Incubator under the Hello Neighbour! @ Tampines Central project. The Social Linkway integrates commonly-used walkways with community nodes, such as community cafes and gardens, to promote social interaction. The Neighbourhood Incubator seeks to turn void deck spaces into a convenient one-stop hub for residents to participate in community activities and workshops. The project saw some 1,000 Tampines residents and stakeholders coming together to design their very own Social Linkway and Neighbourhood Incubator. They participated enthusiastically at pop-up booths, over interactive boards displayed in the neighbourhood and design workshops. Beyond that, residents also joined hands to implement some of their own ideas e.g. painting wall murals to strengthen the neighbourhood’s identity and starting a community garden.
This project is supported by:
Community sharing about their needs and preferences over pop-up booths
Community engaging in discussions over design workshops and interactive boards
Community helping to implement their ideas such as co-creating wall murals
Resultant community spaces at the Social Linkway and Neighbourhood Incubator
HDB and PA/ Grassroots engaged the Whampoa community to design their new neighbourhood park in 2021.
Over 710 Whampoa residents participated in the design of Whampoa Park. Named by the community, the new neighbourhood park houses Whampoa’s first pets’ park, a foot reflexology corner for seniors and a lawn for disc golf – a popular sport among Whampoa residents. Boulders, which are iconic of the area, were retained within the fitness corners and playgrounds, to add to the park’s identity. To celebrate the completion of the park, HDB held a Whampoa Park Community Build Day on 25 November 2023, where residents came together to plant trees, join guided tours, launch the pets’ park and learn disc golf.
Tree planting with residents
Guided tour of Whampoa Park
Disc golf tournament
Launch of Whampoa Pets Park
Engagements in progress, stay tuned!
Engagements with the Pasir Ris community for 4 neighbourhood parks and social nodes under the Remaking Our Heartland programme are currently ongoing. We look forward to working closely with residents on the design and implementation of these spaces! Watch this space for updates!
and in support of the Singapore Together movement where we work hand-in-hand with the people of Singapore to create better homes and engaged communities.
In Support of:
From 2019 to 2021, HDB, together with PA/ Grassroots and partnering schools, engaged the Toa Payoh community on the upgrading works for 2 neighbourhood parks, 2 playgrounds, and 5 social nodes.
We are encouraged to see over 3,600 individuals from the Toa Payoh community coming forward to share their ideas, concerns and feedback for the upgrading works under the Remaking Our Heartland programme. With site constraints and a wide range of needs/interests from the community, the participants had a tough time prioritising and reaching a consensus on the design proposals below. Site works are expected to commence progressively from mid-2022. The Toa Payoh community can look forward to completing the gardens, putting up art installations and taking part in the final installation of the playgrounds between 2023 to 2025. This project is supported by:
Physical design workshops with residents (pre-Covid)
A resident sharing her ideas during an online design workshop
Online design workshops with residents
Build-A-Playground engagements with preschools
Build-A-Playground engagements with primary schools
Design proposals for social nodes
Design proposals for N1 neighbourhood park
Design proposal for N1 Build-A-Playground
Design proposals for N3 neighbourhood park
Design proposal for N3 Build-A-Playground
Find out some of the upgrading plans for 4 neighbourhood parks in Woodlands, developed together with the community.
From May 2021 to December 2022, close to 1,000 residents shared their suggestions for improvement works at 4 neighbourhood parks:
After considering residents’ needs and interests, the shortlisted ideas for implementation include pet parks, a community garden, a multi-purpose hardcourt, upgrading of fitness equipment, and toilet facilities. Residents selected new fitness equipment for all the parks. 1,165 students from nearby schools also participated in co-designing the new playgrounds for Mandai Tekong Park. Preview some of the improvement works below! The upgrading works will start progressively from December 2023. Residents will be able to lend a hand in planting trees and co-building some of the new park facilities in the first half of 2025.
Online discussion with community stakeholders
On-site outreach with residents
Improvement works for Mandai Tekong Park
Improvement works for Woodlands Admiral Garden
Improvement works for Woodlands Crescent Park
Improvement works for Woodlands Neighbourhood 2 Park