Where were you when you first heard of Covid-19? I remember murmurings of a new disease at the end of 2019 as I sat in bed reading the message notification, wondering how serious it would be. Soon after, the pandemic arrived on our shores. When the first case in Singapore was recorded, I was at a Chinese New Year reunion dinner with my family. Little did we know it would be the only opportunity for us to gather together in a long while.

All of us have felt the impact of the pandemic personally. For some, the bleak economic outlook increased anxiety as we had to ask afresh where we belong in this new landscape. Others felt robbed – of their graduations and weddings, their now defunct favourite dessert store, and their health. Perhaps the most difficult part was finding ourselves all alone. Safe distancing measures in Phase 1 meant an extended separation from friends and family, leaving us more socially isolated than ever. I think frequently of my grandmother, who lives alone without a smart phone, and how that experience must have been for her.

A common sight in Singapore during the Covid-19 pandemic. PHOTO: Shawn Ang on Unsplash.

Yet, it was not enough to just survive alone. Across society, we began to see a transformation – people looking out for each other and moving quickly to help the least amongst us. Indeed, the cases amongst foreign worker dormitories in Singapore showed we are only as strong as our weakest link. From commission-free delivery of hawker food, to a ground-up neighbourhood buddy system to support elderly and low-income families, and leaving home-made hand sanitisers in lifts for common use , the community came together. These ground-up efforts within the community were also the first to meet immediate needs swiftly, moving alongside broader centralised policies and government initiatives. There are many more stories that go unpublished, such as my grandmother’s neighbour who offered to help collect masks on her behalf since she was elderly and more vulnerable.

There is a Chinese proverb that goes ‘A close neighbour is better than a relative faraway’. At Shophouse & Co, we believe this saying contains wisdom for our times. The most important resources and relationships have always been within our neighbourhoods. Our local amenities, social networks, and hyper-local economies are the building blocks of lovable & resilient places to live in. This is what placemaking is truly about, and it may just hold the key to this new reality we are living in.

“The most important resources and relationships have always been within our neighbourhoods. Our local amenities, social networks, and hyper-local economies are the building blocks of lovable & resilient places to live in. This is what placemaking is truly about.”

If the local neighbourhood is key to our Covid-19 world, how can we play a part in nurturing it? How might we safely utilise the shared amenities and spaces that are within walking distance? How might we support our next-door neighbours and local communities? How might we enable the shops and food stalls round the corner to thrive?

We believe that nurturing neighbourhoods begins with strengthening relationships between neighbours. To embody and share this spirit, we created the Knocknock Community Playbook – a step-by-step guide that places practical resources in the hands of individuals, empowering them to reach out and connect with next-door neighbours.

To nurture anything is to cherish it and to cultivate a natural curiosity about it. Likewise, nurturing our neighborhoods will begin with asking questions to learn more about the people and places within them. Who are my next-door neighbours and how well do I know them? What are common spaces and shared experiences that bind us? What are the collective skill sets and resources we can bring to the table? The playbook’s first step contains guiding questions for anyone to check-in on their relationship with neighbours, nudging them to consider new possibilities and develop an inquisitive approach.

Nurturing also requires taking practical steps to show care, while waiting with patience for efforts to pay off with time. Hence, the playbook also offers a variety of ideas to reach out to neighbours – from simple games, thoughtful gestures and fun activities to utilise common spaces safely. For those who have never spoken to their neighbour, taking the first step may feel awkward. Instead of forced interactions, we hope the ideas can help to create natural conditions for relationships in the community to develop organically.

Inspired to embark on a project in your own neighbourhood? Explore the Knocknock Community Playbook today! It serves as a catalyst for personal action and helps you create close-knit communities with greater capacity to overcome adversity together, bolstering new challenges coming our way.

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Nurturing Neighbourhoods with the Knocknock Community Playbook

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