Seniors Are Taking the Kampung Spirit Beyond the Neighbourhood

It's time to support an 'ageing in networks' approach — one that recognises mobility, community, and connection beyond the block.

- Elaine Ho, Vincent Chua and Feng Chen-Chieh

Much is being done to help seniors in Singapore age in place and thrive in doing so. There is the Age Well SG programme that is expanding the number of active ageing centres and activities brought close to the homes of older Singaporeans.

Active ageing centres will also work with community partners such as Sport Singapore or the People's Association, and make use of all the spaces in the community, including coffee shops, pavilions and community clubs. The aim is to encourage social interaction and prevent social isolation.

These efforts rightly signal the importance of engaging seniors so that they remain physically active and socially connected. And they tap Singapore's beloved kampung spirit, involving a strong sense of community and where neighbours help each other.

But a study by the National University of Singapore shines new light on what the kampung spirit means for them today. It found that seniors have diverse ties, many of which are located far beyond their residential neighbourhoods.

The study, which we carried out from 2021 to 2024 on the social networks of 1,199 Singaporeans aged 60 years and above, found that immediate and extended family members are the most prominent in their social networks and named early in the survey. Friends and co-workers are named later, while neighbours are named last.

Funded by the Singapore Social Science Research Council, the study also found that the named contacts are on average located 4km away from where the seniors lived. Geographic Information Science (GIS) mapping further showed that their social networks are both locally situated in the residential neighbourhood and spatially expansive, extending to other parts of Singapore.

At first glance, these findings seem to suggest that the kampung spirit, or neighbourhood cohesion, has diminished in modern-day Singapore.