Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Neighbourhoods for the City
- 2 The Political Economy of Cities in Pacific Asia
- 3 The Logic of Comparisons in Multi-Sited Research Designs
- 4 Sungmisan: The Power of Village Social Enterprises
- 5 Mahakan: Neighbourhood Heritage Curation Attempts
- 6 Tangbu: Saving the Old Sugar Warehouses
- 7 Langham Place: Mega Project-Led Inner-City Regeneration
- 8 Tampines Central: Government-Resident Partnerships at Work
- 9 Neighbourhood Action, Metropolitan Politics, and City Building
- Index
- Publications / Asian Cities
8 - Tampines Central: Government-Resident Partnerships at Work
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Neighbourhoods for the City
- 2 The Political Economy of Cities in Pacific Asia
- 3 The Logic of Comparisons in Multi-Sited Research Designs
- 4 Sungmisan: The Power of Village Social Enterprises
- 5 Mahakan: Neighbourhood Heritage Curation Attempts
- 6 Tangbu: Saving the Old Sugar Warehouses
- 7 Langham Place: Mega Project-Led Inner-City Regeneration
- 8 Tampines Central: Government-Resident Partnerships at Work
- 9 Neighbourhood Action, Metropolitan Politics, and City Building
- Index
- Publications / Asian Cities
Summary
Abstract
The case of Tampines Central (Singapore) illustrates the role the government plays in community building by drawing residents into co-creation attempts to develop new neighbourhood amenities. Like the case of Langham Place (Hong Kong, see chapter 7), Tampines illustrates the involvement of different government agencies in the upgrading of the neighbourhood. The project resulted in the creation of an additional play area to augment those already in the estate, new community-inspired art, a plant trellis along a popular pedestrian/bicycle path, and new seats for pedestrians to rest and chat with their neighbours. Two neighbourhood resident clubs were involved in the process and their participation resulted in a café/library and moveable furniture and storage areas so that these can be moved out for community events. The Tampines case also illustrates a top-down government initiative and raises the question of the robust grass-roots initiatives we see in Sungmisan (Seoul, see chapter 4) and Tangbu (Taiwan, see chapter 6). However, government initiatives should not be discounted because, as urban/spatial policies, these initiatives have a life of their own and are capable of being improved, transformed, and implemented in other Singapore neighbourhoods.
Keywords: Singapore, public housing neighbourhoods, spatial policies, neighbourhood amenities, community partnerships, resident committees
The Significance of Tampines Central
The Tampines case in Singapore is best appreciated by representing it as a set of contrasts with the four other cases in this study. Firstly, Mahakan presents a situation where villagers, supported by various NGOs, fought for the right to stay in Mahakan and, in the process, created a number of community building measures. Such a situation pits the government against the neighbourhood. Significantly, the Mahakan case also reflects the contest between the government and the residents over what the Mahakan site can become. In contrast, the Tampines case is a situation of partnership between the government and the residents to co-create additional features and amenities that will add to the attractiveness and facilities in the neighbourhood. This is not to say that there is no disagreement. Indeed, tensions between stakeholders are a feature of all collective projects. The process of coming to an agreement on the way forward is contentious in all five cases.
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- Information
- Neighbourhoods for the City in Pacific Asia , pp. 179 - 202Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019