In his influential book, The Great Good Place (1989), Ray Oldenburg examining the decay of American suburban communities argues that "third places" are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place. Americans lost their "third places" in suburbia, spending less time in public gathering places as they stay in larger homes where they watch television, eat, and drink without needing to gather in a pub or restaurant.
For multi-cultural societies like Singapore, "third places" are particularly important building blocks for forging a national identity and social cohesion.
The "third place" seemed like a simple concept but it can be overlooked. Fortunately, our founding fathers had the foresight to include "third places" in town planning.
HDB's "Home Ownership for the People" programme was launched in tandem with a hawker centre building programme to provide every street hawker a hawker centre stall. By 1986, the hawker centre building programme was completed with 108 hawker centres built across the country. Most HDB precincts have at least one hawker centre.
The buildings have been modernised but the same design concept / philosophy remains till this day in Singapore.
These "third places" are the community's living rooms. In Singapore's submission to UNESCO for list of intangible cultural heritage inscription, our hawker centres were described as our "community dining rooms".
Hawker centres are Singaporeans' favourite shared space because they meet all the criteria of a perfect "third place".
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| Newton Hawker Centre 1990 |
The Singapore hawker centre is a leveler - it does not matter what is your social economic status, profession, position in your company, organisation or government. Anyone can come in to have an affordable meal at hawker centres. Everyone is treated the same.
Conversation is a big part of Singapore hawker centres. Listen to and share stories, ideas, etc., among colleagues, neighbours, friends, even strangers.
You go to your regular hawker centre haunt alone and you will find your kakis (buddies) there. Even the hawkers can be your friends.
Hawker centres are utilitarian, functional spaces - well designed with simple layout, clean environment, good ventilation, comfortable furnishings, but little frills, nothing grandiose or pretentious. It doesn't engage in expensive marketing campaigns to attract visitors / patrons as its main clientele are residents in its precinct (many of whom live within walking distance).
The hawker centre is a joyful place where everyone is accepted, no tension or hostility as we are all here to enjoy delicious food together.
For regulars, the neighbourhood hawker centre is like a second home (the "first place") providing the same feelings of safety, comfort, support and belonging.
Hence, hawker centres help forge the Singapore identity which is a hybrid concept incorporating Malay, Indian, Chinese, and other cultures that make up the country of Singapore, our home.
Whatever we do, we must protect our "third places" like hawker centres because of their crucial societal bonding and anchoring role in the ecosystem of our communities.
Written by Tony Boey on 23 Dec 2021
Vintage photographs courtesy of National Archives of Singapore
Great article, Tony. I doubly appreciated it as a holder in a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and a past visitor to Singapore. I thought that the hawker centers (which I tried quite a few of) were a practical solution to people living in small apartments with small kitchens. Here in the USA we have relatively large houses with the kitchen often times being the largest and most central room of the house. I envy your third place and sense of community, which is totally lacking here. Thank you for the insights.
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