Community Engagement

The Innovation and Design for Communities course is designed to facilitate community-based engagement and learning for design and engineering students through placemaking or transformation of spaces to positively impact underprivileged communities. Here, students will analyse existing spaces and constraints before applying their discipline-specific skillsets and competencies in design and technology innovation, such as space design, human-centric design of furnishings and fittings and smart home technologies, to co-create an improved community or living space to support these underprivileged communities.

The course broadly covers the following topics:

• Understanding Housing and Inequality in Singapore
• Social Determinants of Health and Wellbeing in the Built Environment 
• Understanding Housing and Inequality in Singapore 
• Social Determinants of Health and Wellbeing in the Built Environment 
• Community-Centric Design: Ethics and Engagement 
• Design Thinking Process for Small and Shared Environments 
• Space Planning for Small and Shared Environments 
• Furniture and Product Design for Compact Living 
• Universal Design and Smart Home Technologies 

Learning Outcomes

• Analyse and assess community needs through research and stakeholder engagement, understanding challenges and constraints of underprivileged communities' living spaces.
• Apply design thinking and problem-solving skills to address space-related needs of underprivileged communities, ensuring innovative and practical solutions for placemaking and space transformation.
• Integrate knowledge from design, engineering, and technology to create holistic solutions, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration to address community challenges and enhance project outcomes.
• Collaborate with community members and stakeholders to ensure designs are culturally sensitive, contextually appropriate, and reflect community aspirations and values.
• Develop skills to assess design interventions' effectiveness and sustainability, considering social, economic, environmental, and cultural impacts on community well-being.