Abstract
As a land-scarce nation, the Singapore government recognizes the merits of underground spaces and has been developing them to house mostly utilitarian functions like storage, utilities and transport. There is no plan to put residences underground though. Thus, this study sought to explore the possibilities of using subterranean spaces for community activities and housing. To this aim, a hybrid method that locates between the intersection of ideation workshops and focus group discussions was utilized to get young adults to imagine everyday life underground as a desirable urban future. During these five online sessions, participants adopted temporary identities as prospective residents of a hypothetical underground residential town. They were facilitated with guiding questions to contemplate how it could be made liveable and the steps to be taken in present day to prepare for this future. Thereafter, participants reflected on similar participatory planning processes conducted by the local government. By performing content analysis on participants’ ideas and responses, this study has unearthed various design requirements, opportunities and challenges of underground space development, some of which are specific to Singapore’s context. Participants’ perceptions of participatory planning in Singapore were also analyzed and areas of improvement were presented. Changing people’s negative attitudes towards underground spaces will be a long-drawn process. Thus, a similar exploratory process to engage citizens regarding people-centric underground space use must begin soon, given Singapore’s worsening land squeeze. This study has thus sought to pave the way into this research area.