MCCY shares youths’ ideas to shape Somerset Belt from phase 2 of master plan

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) has shared some of its learnings about youths’ impression of the “Somerset Belt” in a Facebook post, including the fact that the area’s youthful and vibrant image is “not reflected” in its physical features. This comes as MCCY engaged youths over the weekend to develop possible concepts and prototypes for the Somerset Belt as part of the phase two of its “Shape your Somerset” project to rejuvenate the area spanning *SCAPE, The Red Box, TripleOne Somerset and Somerset Skate Park.In statement to Marketing, a MCCY spokesperson said youths will continue to be involved in translating some of these ideas into infrastructural or programmatic prototypes, which will be showcased in public spaces in September 2019.According to the ministry, it has engaged with some 14,000 youths for the project since phase one started in May through online conversations, comments, polls, and face to face engagements. MCCY has recently also set up a booth at the Singapore Sports Hub from 3-4 Aug 19 to gather responses from youths on what would attract them to Somerset, rewarding participants with free ice-cream and popcorn. Meanwhile, two Facebook posts on “Shape your Somerset” account over the past few days rallying youths for their opinions have also garnered near to 750 comments.  According to the Facebook post, MCCY also found out from youths that the shopping experiences and options are limited at Somerset, thereby losing out to more convenient alternatives in the neighbourhood malls and online stores. Unconventional features and distinctive experiences also risk becoming one-off destinations when the novelty wears off.Meanwhile, youths expect “differentiated experiences and features” to make their travel worthwhile and identify with iconic features. While they are drawn to features representative of local culture, they can also see through “inauthentic places explicitly marketed for Instagram”. Public spaces too, need to have distinctive features representative of an authentic identity to create deep mental impressions, MCCY learns.MCCY organised “Urban Hack” on 4 August to allow participants to communicate their ideas for Somerset through models, sketches and mock-ups, which will be reviewed by a panel of facilitators. Ideas surfaced include co-working spaces, car-free days and retail zones for local entrepreneurs.The phase two of the project, which commenced in mid-July, sees the working panel recommending improvements to shortlisted concepts. The panel is co-led by senior parliamentary secretary Baey Yam Keng and Love, Bonito’s chief commercial officer Dione Song. The last phase will take place in November, where youths get to vote for their favourite master plan, according to “Shape your Somerset” website.