Engaging communities

CHYE Yi De^*, LIM Cheng Puay, and Eunice S. Q. NG

Ridge View Residential College

^*chye.yide@u.nus.edu

Chye, Y. D., Lim, C. P., & Ng, E. S. Q. (2024). Fostering community and environmental stewardship through RV learning forest [Lightning Talk]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-chye-et-al

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Engaging Communities

KEYWORDS

Engaging communities, Environmental stewardship, Outdoor education, Climate action, Placemaking

CATEGORY

Lightning Talk

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

In highly urbanised and rapidly changing environments, there is often a disconnect between people, their surroundings, and nature (Beery et al., 2023). This can lead to difficulties in forming a strong sense of place attachment and nature connectedness among individuals (Lehmann, 2023). Yet, a sense of place and nature connectedness has been found to foster a sense of agency in sustainability and motivate pro-environmental behaviours (Armitage et al., 2017; Masterson et al., 2019; Nisbet & Zelenski, 2013). Accordingly, embedding nature into placemaking processes, with community-based participation at the core, is essential in nurturing a strong connection between people, place, and the natural world (Bush et al., 2020; Krasny & Delia, 2015).

As part of Ridge View Residential College (RVRC)’s outdoor learning programme, RVRC partnered with the National University of Singapore University Campus Infrastructure (NUS UCI) to plant 100 native trees in celebration of RVRC’s 10th Anniversary. This student-led initiative resulted in the creation of “RV Learning Forest” (RVLF) within the College campus. Being a visually prominent and publicly accessible outdoor learning space, RVLF is intended to nurture residents’ connection to nature and their sense of place within the College while enhancing the ecological connectivity within the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus.

To ensure that the RVRC community is actively involved in the placemaking process, the planning committee decided against outsourcing the tree planting to contract workers and chose to involve community members instead. 64 participants, including RVRC staff, residents, alumni, and other community groups such as NUS Toddycats and (Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Earthlink, attended the tree planting event (see Figure 1). Through RVLF, participants felt a sense of collective identity, as described by RVRC resident Gillian Harryanto, Year 1, Faculty of Science,

“By planting trees together, residents are united by a common purpose, enabling new friendships to be forged. This strengthens community spirit in RVRC, allowing the College to grow in more ways than one.”Figure 1. Participants of the RVLF tree planting event held on 27 January 2024.

Figure 2. Participants were guided by RVRC Fellows and experienced volunteers from NUS Toddycats (Photo credit: Yap Koo Gene from RVRC Social Media).

RVLF has transformed from a patch of grass into a place used to engage communities on environmental stewardship and the people-nature relationship (see Figure 3). Being part of the tree planting event also inspired members of NTU’s NTreeU to apply certain practices with their student-led reforestation community. Constance Liew, Chairperson of NTreeU, shared that her group “really liked the idea of giving the participants species tags to label their trees. It does help to encourage them to invest more in community tree planting. We ended up doing something similar for our own tree planting event in March”.

Figure 3. RVRC hosted an outdoor learning session to introduce concepts of ecological connectivity and local biodiversity to visiting Secondary School students.

Placemaking through RVLF extends beyond a single event as developing a sense of place and nurturing nature connectedness require time. Community members continue to be part of the plot enhancement and maintenance activities. For example, residents designed walking paths during Go Green SG 2024 held in June 2024 (see Figures 4 and 5). Community science initiatives, such as plant labelling and biodiversity monitoring, are ongoing opportunities for residents to participate in. As RVLF planning committee member – Natalie Ong, Year 4, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, shared,

“… the Learning Forest is a community-driven space of learning, restoration, and rest. It started off as a passion project to create a green community-centric space and I’m grateful many others have decided to hop on to join this place-making endeavour.”

Figure 4. RVRC residents who were new and repeated RVLF participants joined in the Go Green SG 2024 plot enhancement event.

Figure 5. Participants used recycled wooden furniture and repurposed gravel to create a walking path that facilitates entry to RVLF.

Leveraging a community-based participatory approach towards RVLF has facilitated stronger connections between residents, the College campus, and nature (Restrepo-Mieth et al., 2023). Looking ahead, RVLF will continue to serve as a place to connect different communities, develop a common eco-identity amongst RVRC residents, and provide opportunities for communities to engage in environmental civic service (Hoffman & Doody, 2015).

REFERENCES

Armitage, D., Alexander, S., Andrachuk, M., Berdej, S., Brown, S., Nayak, P., Pittman, J., & Rathwell, K. (2017). Governing the coastal commons: Communities, multi-level networks and governance transformations in the coastal commons. Routledge, 231-251.

Beery, T., Olafson, A. S., Gentin, S., Maurer, M., Stålhammar, S., Albert, C., Bieling, C., Buijs, A., Fagerholm, N., Garcia‐Martin, M., Plieninger, T., & Raymond, C. M. (2023). Disconnection from nature: Expanding our understanding of human–nature relations. People and Nature, 5(2), 470-488. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10451

Bush, J., Hernandez-Santin, C., & Hes, D. (2020). Nature in Place: Placemaking in the Biosphere. In Hes, D., Hernandez-Santin, C. (eds) Placemaking Fundamentals for the Built Environment (pp. 39-61). Palgrave Macmillan.

Hoffman, A. J., & Doody, S. (2015). Build a fruit tree orchard and they will come: Creating an eco-identity via community gardening activities. Community Development Journal, 50(1), 104-
120. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsu023

Krasny, M. E., & Delia, J. (2015). Natural area stewardship as part of campus sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 87-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.019

Lehmann, S. (2023). Reconnecting with nature: Developing urban spaces in the age of climate change. Emerald Open Research, 1(5).https://doi.org/10.1108/EOR-05-2023-0001

Masterson, V. A., Enqvist, J. P., Stedman, R. C., & Tengö, M. (2019). Sense of place in social– ecological systems: From theory to empirics. Sustainability Science, 14, 555-564. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00695-8

Nisbet, E. K., & Zelenski, J. M. (2013). The NR-6: A new brief measure of nature relatedness. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00813

Restrepo-Mieth, A., Perry, J., Garnick, J., & Weisberg, M. (2023). Community-based participatory climate action. Global Sustainability, 6, 555-564. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2023.12