Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

What does a ‘community’ mean to the contemporaries? In the era of rapid transition and heterogeneity, the sense of community is difficult to define. Regeneration of neighborhoods is inevitable, as urbanization and retrogression accelerate concurrently. Howbeit, the prevalent regeneration approach has withered the traditional structures of community. The concept of community is in flux more than ever due to the rapid infusion of newcomers in neighborhoods. Employing narratives emerged as an alternative means of community inclusion in the redevelopment process to enhance the idea of locality. The prevailing master narratives provide a sense of direction; however, they tend to overpower the meanings embodied in places as well as the collective personal memories of residents. The value of small stories, as opposed to master narratives, lies in their reflection of psychological truths accumulated over time that constitute locality. What, then, does it mean to recount for the contemporary transient community? This study investigates the cases of neighborhoods in Asia undergoing transformations in terms of physical and demographic formation. The aim of the study is to understand the implication of such small stories in today’s neighborhoods and probe how the design of artistic intervention in the regeneration process can facilitate small stories to lay the ground for the residents to build trust and hope within their transient community in order to overcome the fear of insecurity that abounds among the contemporaries.