DRAWING INSPIRATION from the HEARTLANDS Read About the Journey of a Local Lecturer-Turned-Illustrator
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ISSUE 25 Jan/Feb 2020 DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE HEARTLANDS Read about the journey of a local lecturer-turned-illustrator 00 LifeStorey Cover v2.indd 7 13/2/20 4:24 PM EDITORIAL ADVISERS ISSUE 25 JAN/FEB 2020 Eileen Neo, Shivvonne Wong, CONTENTS Jeremy Choy, Peh Yang Yu, Keegan Lim Dear Readers, PUBLISHING AGENT Happy New Year! We hope you kick-started 2020 with an amazing time with ThinkFarm Pte Ltd your family and friends! Managing Director This issue, we continue to focus on community-driven events and initiatives Christopher Tay in the heartlands. We joined participants for a series of workshops marking the launch of a new season of the Lively Places Challenge 2020 (previously Editor known as HDB Build-a-thon). Find out what we discovered about ideation Dang Hui Ling processes in Talk of the Town. Head, Creative There are more landmarks and storied history to Toa Payoh, other than Sean Lee the iconic dragon playground. Check out the shops and eateries that you Art Director shouldn’t miss when you are in the area! In addition, follow our journey Lee Lily around Punggol’s Explorer Trail and learn more about this vibrant eco-friendly town in Around the Block. Contributors Fiona Chen, Jasmine Alimin, Cheryl Sim, To help seniors better understand the benefits of the Merdeka Generation Ahmad Iskandar, Justin Loh, Mark Lee, Package and promote engagement with their community, a string of Vernon Wong, Gina Ang, Lee Kow Fong roadshows was organised islandwide. Also featured in Our Life Stories is Singaporean artist Lee Kow Fong (Ah Guo), who shared about his leap of Head, Client Relationship faith to pursue his passion for children’s book illustrations. Jessie Kek After all the Chinese New Year feasting, we offer tips on how you can Life Storeys is a quarterly expend the excess calories from the festive goodies in Livin’ It Up. community publication by the Housing Last but not least, stand a chance to win shopping vouchers by participating & Development Board, bringing you in our Readers’ Survey at http://hdb.gov.sg/lifestoreys! stories and happenings from your neighbourhood. Join us in creating We hope you enjoy reading this issue of Life Storeys. a gracious and harmonious living environment for all! You can also The Editorial Team access the electronic version at http://hdb.gov.sg/lifestoreys or scan the QR code below. TALK OF THE TOWN 01 Designing for Change AROUND THE BLOCK 06 Touring Toa Payoh 01 08 Eat, Drink & Shop Copyright ©2020 Merry in Toa Payoh! Housing & Development Board All rights reserved. No part of 10 A Walk Down the this material may be reproduced Eco-friendly Lane or transmitted in any form or by any means. OUR LIFE STORIES 06 12 Ageing with Benefits 14 Drawing for Keeps This publication is printed on FSC™-certified paper. The paper LIVIN’ IT UP choice and printing methods are green and environmentally 16 Belly Happy friendly, leaving behind a smaller 14 carbon footprint. Printed by KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd 00 IFC Content.indd 14 12/2/20 4:26 PM Talk of the Town DESIGN -ING FOR Change THE LIVELY PLACES CHALLENGE 2020 KICKED OFF IN OCTOBER 2019 WITH A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS GEARED TOWARDS HELPING PARTICIPANTS TURN THEIR COMMUNITY-CHANGING IDEAS INTO REALITY. Living in one of Singapore’s many HDB estates is very much community-centric, and the Lively Places Challenge aims to foster a stronger community spirit in the heartlands by encouraging residents to be active contributors to the very environment they live in. This islandwide initiative began as the HDB Build-a-thon, which was launched in 2014 to invite residents to conceive projects that would add vibrancy to their neighbourhoods while fostering a stronger sense of identity and belonging. This year, residents from eight towns were invited to participate in the initiative, now renamed as the Lively Places Challenge, namely Bishan, Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Punggol, Sengkang, Tampines, Toa Payoh, and Yishun. From the get-go, the participants, who included representatives from Residents’ Committees (RCs), residents and schools, were guided by a comprehensive Learn, Engage and Co-create process that aimed to bring their ideas to fruition. 01 01-05 Talk of the town v2.indd 1 6/2/20 10:15 AM A series of Training & Engagement workshops was and conducting their own research methodologies, conducted across five zones in October and November could help them progress with their initiatives. 2019 — a Design Thinking workshop, followed by a Check-in Session several weeks later. “Design ideation plays a big part in creating functional outcomes. It is important to ensure that The learning advantage research of the end-users is a key part of that process. The Design Thinking workshops were led by mentors There are methods that range from participatory from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), Ngee design to co-design, which are different ways that Ann Polytechnic (NP), National University of Singapore designers can engage with the users on a deeper (NUS), and Singapore University of Technology and level," said Dr Teo. Design (SUTD), with different methods and practices imparted to each zone. This was followed by an idea refinement session, where the groups filtered out the unfeasible ideas by During the North East Zone’s workshop at Sengkang applying what they had learned, with Dr Teo and his Primary School on 2 November 2019, SIT Assistant team providing input on the teams’ plans. Professor Nicholas Teo walked the attendees through a lecture on the design thinking process, explaining how Next, the participants visited the actual sites where fundamentals, such as developing a user journey map their projects would be executed to garner residents’ feedback about their ideas. Over at Waterway Cascadia, conversations with residents allowed the team to gather useful opinions from the people By integrating who would directly benefit from their project. games and This allowed them to refine their prototypes of rewards into transforming two unused void decks into vibrant the workshop, community spaces. we managed to Over at the East Zone’s session conducted at get more energetic responses Tampines Changkat Community Club on 23 from the participants. Some of November 2019, participants were given a crash course on Asset-Based Community Development them came with preconceived (ABCD) concepts, and Mapping and Engagement notions but after the session, Strategies, facilitated by Ngee Ann Polytechnic they realised that their ideas lecturers Mr Javihn Chan and Mr Daryl Chan. need to be refined and more During the first half of the day, Mr Javihn led the grounded. Public engagement introduction into ABCD. Using various group and observation is crucial to discussions and case studies to fuel understanding, identify if their project is Mr Javihn explained how the ABCD framework galvanises the community into action by drawing suitable for execution. on the strengths of its people, whether physical or - SUMMER HA, 29, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, ARCHITECTURE AND personal. Empowering the community in this SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FACULTY, SUTD ground-up manner fosters stronger bonds and 02 01-05 Talk of the town v2.indd 2 12/2/20 4:48 PM Talk of the Town 03 01-05 Talk of the town v2.indd 3 13/2/20 4:29 PM motivates everyone to create new opportunities for “I think this is a very good platform for people from themselves in the process. diverse backgrounds to create a better community. It’s also interesting to see how different the ideas are across Mr Daryl’s segment focused on the importance of the different age groups! For example, the younger community mapping in identifying and strengthening generation prefers using technology to connect people, project goals and objectives. In addition, he explained how while the older participants are more into hands-on community engagement is critical for participants to form activities,” shared Mr Wang Yam Peng, deputy general better insights into how their proposed project can meet manager at Tampines Town Council. the needs of residents and members of the public. Armed with new knowledge and these fresh perspectives, “We teach our students how to frame their projects by the participants will be implementing their ideas through looking at the data first, and how to synthesise it and use to March 2020. Their efforts will culminate during HDB it to create better ideas,” said Mr Daryl. Community Week 2020, where these projects will be showcased and the winning teams announced in an To grasp a better sense of the community mapping awards ceremony. techniques, the groups conducted mock site inspections at nearby void decks. While one group focused on a fruit and herb garden maintained by residents, another was invited into the home of a resident who embraced their plans for a tech- Urban planning has driven event. With this feedback, the groups were ready for always been a very the actual site inspection, which was held later that afternoon. top-down approach, Time for an update so it’s good to see Reconvening a few weeks later, the groups presented their that the authorities final ideas to the resource persons from various agencies, are receptive to letting the such as the Town Council, as well as the facilitating community create their own schools like SUTD. The Check-in Session at the East Zone on 30 November 2019 was a particularly rousing identity and people-places. one, with participants, facilitators and resource persons - FATHIMAH FATHAH, 26, URBAN PLANNING POST-GRADUATE all adding to the lively discussions that ensued. AT NUS AND HEAD OF “THE URBANIST” 04 01-05 Talk of the town v2.indd 4 12/2/20 4:49 PM Talk of the Town LIVELY PLACES PROGRAMME WHAT IS IT? The Lively Places Programme is a joint initiative by HDB and URA to support community-led efforts in enlivening Singapore’s public spaces.