Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Master Narrative and the Lived City – Half a Century of Imagining Singapore
- Part I (De)-Constructing Master Narratives of the City
- Part II The Arts as Prisms of the Urban Imaginative
- Part III The City Possible in Action
- Conclusion
- Index
- Publications
9 - Conviviality in Clementi: The Flowering of a Local Public Housing Community
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Master Narrative and the Lived City – Half a Century of Imagining Singapore
- Part I (De)-Constructing Master Narratives of the City
- Part II The Arts as Prisms of the Urban Imaginative
- Part III The City Possible in Action
- Conclusion
- Index
- Publications
Summary
Abstract
There exists in us a desire for creative expression and for autonomous intercourse that material comforts cannot replace or satisfy. This desire for convivial interactions, Ivan Illich persuades us, cannot be satisfied by mere industrial productivity. Inspired by Lisa Peattie's stylized description of community as pointing to the human need for roots and conviviality as pointing to the human need to flower, I set off in search of roots and flowering in my neighbourhood – Clementi, Singapore. In this endeavour, I analyse how Clementi's roots – physical characteristics of shared spaces, community norms, and public characters – have enabled its flowering: the bubbling of social energy in small, sometimes dissenting ways, the ebb and flow of sociable pleasure, and the development of social capital.
Keywords: conviviality, third places, mixers, neutral grounds, sorting areas, public characters
Conviviality, Community and Clementi New Town
‘Conviviality’ refers to ‘the autonomous and creative intercourse among persons, and the intercourse of persons with their environment’, which stands in contrast to ‘the conditioned response of persons to the demands made upon them by others, and by a man-made environment’ (Illich 1975: 24). A white-collared worker personalising his work desk with photographs of friends and family, fellow commuters having a conversation over a newspaper article, retirees tending to their community garden of their own accord – these autonomous and creative intercourses are all examples of convivial interactions in the city. While these activities might seem mundane and trivial, Ivan Illich persuades us otherwise, asserting that, ‘as conviviality is reduced below a certain level, no amount of industrial productivity can effectively satisfy the needs it creates among society's members’ (1975: 24). What might we desire that industrial productivity and, by extension, material gains cannot effectively satisfy?
We might probe further by questioning whether convivial interactions are indeed necessary for members of human society, and furthermore, are non-substitutable by industrial productivity and its accompanying material gains. Intuitively, I think the answer is yes: convivial interactions are necessary for members of society, as they contribute to a unique sense of happiness and fulfilment.
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- Information
- Hard State, Soft City of Singapore , pp. 213 - 232Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020