The beginner’s guide to community building

Consider your usual routine. (Or at least, the way it used to be before Covid-19.)

Maybe you have breakfast at home or grab a quick bite at a kopitiam. You commute to work or school. At night, you go to a recreation centre to exercise or to a library to work on projects. You catch up on conversations in several online groups and chat rooms. During weekends, you take your family to the park, play sports with your friends, join meetups, or attend an event or a church service.

In each activity, you are participating in and shaping a community, whether or not you see it that way. You might even play a major role in building or guiding the community.

The reality is that all of us belong to at least one community. In a seemingly individualistic society like Singapore, you might not feel this – but it’s true. And the things you do every day can influence these different communities.

On the other hand, you may be conscious of the fact that communities exist wherever you go. But ever wondered what exactly a community is – and how you can contribute?

You’ve come to the right place.

Whether you’re a community member or consider yourself a community developer, it’s important to build a consciousness of the different types of communities around you, what these communities comprise, and the various possible ways you can contribute to them.

We’ll be discussing these in a series of articles, which are based on conversations we’ve had with the developers of various types of communities around Singapore.

But first, a note—this series aims to help you think about communities. It will give you ideas and perspectives on building, assessing, or improving a community. It won’t give you a prescriptive answer on how to develop and solve your specific community’s problems, because every group of people—along with the interests, causes, and problems that bind them together—is unique.

With that said, let’s begin.