Common Space

Common Space

Physical Common Spaces:

Arab Street is lacking physical common spaces. There are not many common spaces where people can interact in and form commonalities, apart from coffee shops which are few and far between.

Non-physical Common Spaces:

Arab Street also is also lacking in non-physical common spaces. Over the years, due to commercialism brought about by globalisation, Arab Street has become more of a business district and less of a residential area. Most people visit Arab Street with a specific purpose in mind. This allows for minimal interaction. With Singapore’s quick-paced living, people tend to interact less, thus lessening the opportunity for commonalities to form. This is the same in the case of Arab Street.

Due to a lack of common space (both physical and non-physical), commonalities are close to or completely inexistent. Without commonalities, common identity of the target audience cannot form and thus the collective identity of people and of the place (Arab Street) does not exist.