They Told Us to Move
By: Ng Kok Hoe, Cassia Resettlement Team (editors)
Synopsis
What happens when an entire community is moved?
Dakota Crescent was one of Singapore's oldest public housing estates and a rental flat neighbourhood for low-income households. In 2016, its residents—many of whom are elderly—were relocated to Cassia Crescent to make way for redevelopment. To help them resettle, a group of volunteers came together and formed the Cassia Resettlement Team.
They Told Us to Move tells the story of the relocation through interviews with the residents from the Dakota community and reflections by the volunteers. Accompanying these are essays by various academics on urban planning; gender and family; ageing, poverty, and social services; civil society and citizenship; and architectural heritage and place-making. Through this three-part conversation, the book explores human stories of devotion, expectation, and remembrance. It asks what we can achieve through voluntary action and how we can balance self-reliance and public services.
This book is for people who want to understand the kind of society we are, and question what kind of society we want to be.
— from Ethos Books
Dakota Crescent was one of Singapore's oldest public housing estates and a rental flat neighbourhood for low-income households. In 2016, its residents—many of whom are elderly—were relocated to Cassia Crescent to make way for redevelopment. To help them resettle, a group of volunteers came together and formed the Cassia Resettlement Team.
They Told Us to Move tells the story of the relocation through interviews with the residents from the Dakota community and reflections by the volunteers. Accompanying these are essays by various academics on urban planning; gender and family; ageing, poverty, and social services; civil society and citizenship; and architectural heritage and place-making. Through this three-part conversation, the book explores human stories of devotion, expectation, and remembrance. It asks what we can achieve through voluntary action and how we can balance self-reliance and public services.
This book is for people who want to understand the kind of society we are, and question what kind of society we want to be.
— from Ethos Books
Contributor's Note
This is the underrated star before This Is What Inequality Looks Like started all the hype. Each chapter is told in a refreshing format of [resident's interview] + [volunteer's reflection] + [academic's analysis]. My fav section is "Care. Service. Policy" which I highly recco all public servants in the social sector to read. Its lessons are ingrained in me till today.
p.s. in the spirit of questioning the need for non-stop "renewal" and "redevelopment", I've shared my 6-year-old treasured copy, hoping you appreciate its inner beauty beyond the yellowing.
— Li Lin, SD
p.s. in the spirit of questioning the need for non-stop "renewal" and "redevelopment", I've shared my 6-year-old treasured copy, hoping you appreciate its inner beauty beyond the yellowing.
— Li Lin, SD