budak said...
There's an interesting analysis of the mindset of HDB planning in this interview: http://reclaimland.sg/rl/?p=416
One telling excerpt:
"Q: Why has it been so difficult for local community to grow in the HDB environment?
A: There is no belief that people would actually voluntarily organise themselves to take care of their own environment. We have very little faith in people and the everyday life. There are ton of workers taking care all of that so residents have no responsibility to anything, there is no sort of mechanism to generate community unless you become member of the Residents’ Committee and community centre. Whenever community is generated, it’s an occasional thing, mooncake festival and this kind of thing, it’s very event-oriented rather than everyday notion of community."
