Chapter 1
Sensing the Community

1.1 WARMING TIES
1.2 SAYING “HELLO”
1.3 WALKING AS MAPPING
1.4 MAPPING GIFTS


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Community Building PlaybookLearning Journey CurriculumLife Stories PodcastAbout ↗

A Community-Centered
Social Design Curriculum

Drawing from experiences 
of activating coffeeshops in asset-based, community-led approaches, this social design curriculum guides a student through the process of creating meaningful participatory programs co-designed with communities, beginning from a cup of Kopi and conversations with fellow neighbours in the local coffeeshop.




LEARNING CHAPTERS

1 SENSING 
2 DISCOVERY
3 DEEP DIVES
4 ACTIVATING 
5 SUSTAINING


Learning Journey

Be ready with an open mind to 
learn new ways of seeing as 
you enter a community. 
Prepare a fieldwork journal to chronicle your journey of discovery. 

FRAMING MINDSETS


Learning Objectives
Practising the social skill of engaging people in conversations and observational skill of noticing and making sense of behaviours, rituals and hidden connections. 



1.1 Warming Ties


We will begin this journey of getting to know your neighbourhood by warming the relationships that are existing in your daily interactions with neighbours. 
This could be striking up a conversation with the hawker who you frequent for a weekend breakfast or saying “Hello” to a neighbour in the same block who shares the same morning ritual as you. 



Warming ties could be as simple as stopping to chat with the park cleaner who is resting during his break time. 


Fieldwork Assignment

Written daily observation 
in your fieldwork journal.
ACTIVITY SPANS 3 WEEKS


Learning Objectives

Observing and practising little social nudges and conversation starters that initiate interaction and shift relationships to greater neighbourly friendliness.



1.2 Saying “Hello” in the Lift

When was the last time you said hello to a neighbour in the lift? Is that a common practice in your apartment block or your neighbourhood? What could you discover if you begin to warm relations by initiating conversations? Would you meet the same faces each day as your daily rituals cross path with other neighbours? Would you know which floor they live on to press the lift button for them? Would you think to find out if everything is ok if you do not meet someone you usually meet on your way to school?





Fieldwork Assignment

Written daily observation 
in your fieldwork journal.
ACTIVITY SPANS 3 WEEKS


Learning Objectives

The social determinants of health are critical factors to sustaining one’s health in the community. This includes having people who checks in on you if you are not doing your usual ritual or having neighbours to take a morning 
Qi Gong class together. Learn to map these social connections that you have previously overlooked. 



1.3 Walking as Mapping

Follow a friend or a family member and take walks around the neighbourhood through their daily ritual. It could be a morning wet market visit with your mother or sitting in the coffeeshop with your grandfather. Who do they meet on a daily basis? What social ties are woven in these daily interaction? How do these ties sustain community health and social connectedness? How does it make them feel less lonely or more motivated to participate in activities together? 
During your walks, pause to observe community nodes where people naturally gather, have a chat with your neighbours and understand their daily rituals. 


Fieldwork Assignment

Print out a map of the commuity on laminated vinyl so that you can invite the community to write on it in this participatory activity.  

ACTIVITY SPANS 3 WEEKS


Learning Objectives

Based on the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) framework by Cormac Russell, students learn to map the different gifts of the community to discover the inidividuals who are waiting to be invited to contribute. 



1.4 Community Asset Mapping

Using a map of the neighbourhood, hang out with the residents at their usual community node to map their daily rituals, from their morning walks to the stalls they frequent in the hawker center, from the usual path they walk to the people they know along the way. Who are the gems in the neighbourhood? The uncle who repairs everyone’s bicycles? The spice stall mahcik who is also running a crochet interest group? The retired Physics teacher who may be waiting to tutor teenagers in his free time. Map rituals, assets and gifts. 




LASALLE-UAS students from the BA(Hons) Design for Social Futures program conduct a mapping exercise with a group of aunties to map out their daily rituals.