Sense of Place

1. Sense of place

a) people associate importance, meanings and memories with specific locations in their neighbourhoods

b) people’s experiences with natural and built environments, and interaction with others at these locations

Where is your favourite place in your neighbourhood?

Why is it a special place for you?

Post a picture on the padlet which your teacher will share with you.

The following is a photograph posted by a student in Sec 2. Can you see how sense of place differ for him?

Having a lot of details of the place shows a good sense of place.
Significant events/landmark can help people remember a place and enhance their sense of place.

Negative experiences can also bring good sense of place.

Sense of place differs for different groups of people.  The picture below shows a popular hawker centre at Bedok Interchange.  

Homemakers might associate hawker centres with ideas such as convenience and variety as they frequently purchase meals from there. On the other hand, retirees might associate the hawker centre such as leisure and relationships as they regularly meet friends for drinks at hawker centres.

Picture taken at Bedok interchange hawker centre 2022

2. Acquiring a sense of place

a. individuals repeatedly encounter people and objects along familiar paths or roads during regular travel

b. individuals experience significant or memorable events at local landmarks and gathering places

Our experiences with people in natural and built environments help us to develop a sense of place, enabling us to feel that we belong to our neighbourhoods.

What are some places in your neighbourhood that you have developed an attachment to?Look at this interactive on how the HDB estates were built to foster the communities  https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2023/12/hdb-flat-design-evolution/index.html?shell

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were greater emphasis placed on strengthening town identity. Refer to the interactive on how place identity is developed and how it created the sense of place for the people.

While open lawns and plazas may not be visually distinctive spaces, they can be transformed into memorable places when people gather during community events.
My favourite will be  the Pasar Malam next to open areas next to the Punggol and Hougang MRT stations.

3. Representing a sense of place

a. individuals and organisations use different forms and types of media to express people’s sense of place

b. individuals’ sense of place could be enhanced or contradicted by these different representations

An individual may express their personal sense of place in different forms such as texts, audio, graphics, still and moving images. This can then be shared with others through various media types such as print media, broadcast media and internet-based media. 

For example, the picture below shows an outing of a person who has captured some pictures of the memorable outing with his friends at the nearby park and houses in the neighbourhood posted them on his Instagram Stories. This could reflect a person's ideas, memories and significance of the neighbourhood.

A slice of everyday life in the neighborhood. A mobile journalism by a year 2 student on Punggol

Discover interesting facts about Punggol in this story map https://search.nlb.gov.sg/spatialdiscovery/storymaps/punggol/index.html

Look at this interactive on how the HDB estates were built to foster the communities  https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2023/12/hdb-flat-design-evolution/index.html?shell

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were greater emphasis placed on strengthening town identity. Refer to the interactive on how place identity is developed and how it created the sense of place for the people.

An example is Channel News Asia’s documentary series - That’s My Backyard. o Each episode explored people’s sense of place in one neighbourhood, the importance, meanings, and memories that they attach to it.

Similarly, organisations may also reflect people’s collective  sense of place. In the past, only large organisations had the ability to reach out to a large audience using print media such as newspapers and broadcast media such as radio or television. 

Take a look at the video below, which is Singapore’s National Day video for 2021.