Researchers from LKYCIC’s Urban Psychology Lab and DesignZ’s Positive City Lab co-curated VIASTA! 2 held on 30 November 2024 in Changi Simei, in partnership with Changi Simei Citizens’ Consultative Committee, SingHealth Centre for Population Health Research and Implementation, Changi General Hospital, COLOURS: Collectively Ours and SAA Architects. Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, Senior Minister of State Mr Tan Kiat How and Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, advisers to East Coast GRC Grassroots Organisations (GROs), joined the event.
About VIASTA!
VIASTA! is a unique viaduct fiesta that celebrates community, creativity, and going green! Transforming underutilized spaces under the Simei MRT’s viaduct into a vibrant Green Festival organized by and for the Changi Simei community. The first VIASTA was held on 18 May, 2024 after six months of dedicated research and stakeholder engagement led by LKYCIC’s Urban Psychology Lab and DesignZ’s Positive City Lab and SingHealth. Changi Simei residents had desired to see underutilised MRT viaducts transformed into inclusive spaces promoting sustainable and healthy living for their community. After the success of the first VIASTA!, researchers from the Urban Psychology Lab and Positive City Lab continued working with the residents as part of an ongoing participatory action research on positive urbanism.
Key highlights of VIASTA! 2
Following the first VIASTA!, residents continued growing their ground-up initiatives by residents and expand their efforts in bringing the community in Changi Simei community together to combat climate change and champion healthy lifestyles. VIASTA! 2 saw even wider community mobilisation and brought together the collective impact of residents, grassroots organisations, agencies, and healthcare and education institutions in strengthening and bonding the community and ensuring a sustained contribution to issues close to residents’ hearts.
Simei, which means “four beauties” in Mandarin, had its four main streets originally named after the four great beauties of ancient China: Xishi, Diaochan, Guifei and Wang Zhaojun. For VIASTA! 2, SUTD students reinterpreted them as contemporary beauties in Changi Simei, to be dressed up by visitors in a participatory manner. These “four beauties”, at 1.3m tall each, are made of reusable cardboard and sculptured by incorporating cutting-edge AI technology into the entire design process. By leveraging AI tools, the students could generate designs and translate them into 3D models that could be easily fabricated and assembled at the SUTD’s Fabrication Lab in a fraction of the time.
In line with the Sustainability theme of VIASTA! 2, students and researchers from SUTD, along with partners SAA Architects, specially designed and constructed the booths using upcycled drainage cells that are commonly used as additional protection layers to waterproof landscape decks. These were then made into rectangular crates to allow for flexible configurations. After the festival, the modules were dismantled and once again repurposed into street furniture within the Changi Simei neighbourhood.
Supporting the research of the Urban Psychology Lab and Positive City Lab, our researchers continued working with residents to support and co-curate the event to strengthen the placemaking process and as well as to distil learnings for positive urbanism, focusing on placemaking and placekeeping in underutilized spaces in our city.
“VIASTA! underscores the critical role of academia in shaping and enhancing community-driven innovation and sustainable placemaking. Through the active involvement of our students and researchers, we are applying cutting-edge knowledge and design principles and fostering meaningful collaborations with the community and partners. VIASTA! exemplifies how academia can serve as a catalyst, empowering communities to reimagine their shared spaces and co-create vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive environments. At SUTD, we are proud to contribute to initiatives like VIASTA! that align with our mission to trailblaze a better world by design.”
Professor Cheong Koon Hean, Chair of LKYCIC
The Urban Psychology Lab is led by LKYCIC’s Dr Samuel Chng and the Positive City Lab is jointly led by A/Prof Chong Keng Hua and LKYCIC’s Dr Samuel Chng and Dr Harvey Neo.