neighbourhood ecology

I was running an errand, taking a walk in the neighbourhood, and I started to wonder about the elements and compenents that made a lively, vibrant neighbourhood. Then I started to think - the neighbourhood community is like an ecosystem. People are the push-pull factors - they have needs, and businesses, public sectors - all of these are essentially species of organisms that try to trive in the ecology of people.

There are obviously a few needs people have. People need access to postal services to pay bills and other elements of everyday life, people need a place to eat, to shop as well. And then the other functions, such as library and community centres, and importantly, open spaces that allow people to come together and play. Also important is the night lighting conditions. Where to have lighting for maximum impact for security. If it's too dark, people don't want to go out much and this attracts criminals. A good neighbourhood is one that encompasses all of these for a vibrant neighbourhood, a vribant community, where needs are met, where people ca enjoy living in.

Poorly designed urban spaces on the other hand, are mono-function, they exist for a sole purpose such as to provide residential areas as a buffer for an industry or something like that - where there are minimal amenties for residences. It is kinda sad that my mum has to walk ten-twenty minutes to get to the closest grocery store.

What led to this thinking was also about the mushrooming of Internet cafes in the neighbourhood. Who are they really serving? These places are serving the maids and other workers who might have limited access to computing and information at home. Heck, there are tonnes of these places in Geylang, catering to sex workers and to the foreign workers who go there. Let's get real there about whats happening there. But then again, it is also fascinating to see how an ecosystem of services are sprouting up to meet the various needs, economic and otherwise.

And it's all organic growth, non-centralised, everyone just doing their own thing, and gradually, some kind of emergent phenomena occurs. woah. amazing how something from books can actually become real - or at least the realisation.

cool day.

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