Deal with it : negotiating the constraints of HDB home spaces.

• Main Author: Woo, Dianne Shu Mei.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Social psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/41469
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The vast majority of Singaporeans live in Housing Development Board flats (Singapore high-rise public housing) beneath multiple layers of constraints surrounding their home space—their primary territories and often case, the most costly and important purchased good in their lives. Constraints experienced include such as uniform spaces, inability to influence rigid external features, strict policies, short tenures and high costs. The Singaporean must balance regulation, institution and the fulfilment of his private life. Through 9 home observations and interviews with their owners, with a focus on younger generation home owners, this paper attempts to answer the question: When faced with great amounts of limitations with regard to a thing so personal as a home, what coping mechanisms do they employ to negotiate and deal with their ‘choicelessness’? This study discovers that subjects employ physical adjustments (interior decoration) as well as choice and mentality adjustments to negotiate the tight boundaries.