A New Purpose for Familiar Places
From lectures in bars to food sharing at void decks, Singaporeans are giving everyday spaces a new social life.
Credit: An imagined gathering at a Singapore void deck, created for Leadership for Cities
A bar is an unlikely place to hear a researcher discuss Singaporean punk history or why ghost stories endure. Yet that is the premise of Remedial Kids, a lecture series that has brought academics into bars since 2025. Founder Jo Lam uses the venues’ quieter hours to make research part of an evening out. According to Time Out Singapore, the talks regularly sell out.
The interesting change is to the room itself. For a few hours, a place organised around drinks also becomes a place to ask questions and encounter unfamiliar ideas. Remedial Kids shows how citymaking can begin by giving a familiar place a new purpose.
Across Singapore, people are finding answers in void decks, community venues and old buildings. Each effort has a different purpose, but all begin by seeing capacity in a familiar space.
In Tampines Central, residents have used movable furniture to turn void decks into settings for activities, then stored it when the space is needed for something else. Urban sociologist Ho Kong Chong describes a cooking class that drew mothers and children, and a morning café where neighbours could stop for a drink before school or work. While the furniture helped, the reason to come was the experiences that brought people together. A space used mainly for passing through could also become part of a neighbourhood routine.
Repair Kopitiam creates another reason to gather. At its monthly meetups, volunteer coaches guide people through fixing broken household items. A participant brings an appliance, a torn garment or a piece of furniture and takes part in the repair. The encounter can save an object from being discarded, while passing on a skill that someone can use again. The venue becomes a place where neighbours contribute knowledge as well as receive help.
Sometimes the new use is quieter and more practical. Fridge Restock rescues surplus produce and supplies community fridges in HDB void decks. Resident groups and community organisations help maintain and restock the fridges. A void deck’s location close to home makes it useful for sharing food; volunteers and local partners make that use work. The fridge gives an everyday common space a role in reducing waste and supporting residents.
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