Social Stratification Mappers Proposal

Exploring Inequality’s Geographic Dimension Across Neighbourhoods in Singapore: It's Driving Forces & Touch Points

OVERVIEW

PROPOSAL

POSTER

APPLICATION

RESEARCH PAPER

BACK TO HOMEPAGE

INTRODUCTION

Amidst the recent debate over growing social inequality in Singapore such as the distinct clustering of elite schools and varying access to resources, the dangers of hardening social mobility pose as a concern for a culturally diverse nation that has upheld its values of social cohesion and racial harmony. In bridging social divide, Singapore has put in place various community programmes to create shared experiences and promote inter-communities mixing. Using geospatial techniques in R, the dashboard serves to explore the geographic dimension of social inequality, by mapping the extent of social segregation and accessibility to important spaces across neighbourhoods. This is done in three approaches. First, we analyse whether there exists social segregation across subzones using the Entropy-Based Diversity Index, based on three dimensions of inequality - race, age and housing type. Second, using spatial point pattern analysis at the HDB postal code level, we visualise whether there exist housing type clusters that could point towards social inequality and whether certain towns are overpopulated with a specific housing type. Third, using the Hansen Accessibility Model, we map out available touch points that could facilitate social mixing, particularly the ease of access to primary schools. We also see whether there is any variation in accessibility between the elite and mainstream primary schools for different housing types. This is because an important aspect of social inequality is having reasonably fair access to resources. Lastly, we move into solutioning and explore whether there exist sufficient common spaces that allow for social mixing, such as parks, and identify areas that are underserved for urban planners to focus their attention on for future space planning.

MOTIVATION & OBJECTIVES

Our research and development efforts were motivated by the ongoing debates on social inequality but a general lack of “hard evidence” on the geospatial aspects of social inequality. It aims to equip urban planners with a geospatial tool for visual discovering of social inequality across neighbourhoods based on the three dimensions of drivers of inequality. More importantly, it goes beyond highlighting “pain points” but dives into “solutioning”. It does so by equipping planners with the ability to visualise how the spaces and amenities they have built can serve as important touch points to promote social mixing and reduce inequality. Specifically, it attempts to support the following analysis requirements: 1) To display social inequality’s geographic indices cartographically on an internet map such as Openstreetmap; 2) To create a map and graphical visualisation that display social segregation and spatial point clustering as measures of social inequality; 3) To create a map and graphical visualisation that display accessibility measures to amenities and spaces that can promote social mixing;

KEY OBJECTIVES

1. Identifying Demographic Clusters via Spatial Points Pattern Analysis First, we will analyse whether there exist clusters that could point towards social inequality and whether this is more pronounced in certain neighbourhoods, based on ethnic mix, age composition, and housing type. This will be done first by choropleth mapping at the subzone level, then applying the spatial segregation index at the dwelling unit level. Next, we will perform spatial points pattern analysis using kernel density estimation as a density-based point pattern measure for visualisation of our clusters, followed by the L Function as a distance-based measure. To test the significance of our clusters, we will then apply Complete Spatial Randomness Test using the Monti-Carlo Simulation.

2. Modelling Geographical Accessibility to Amenities & Spaces Next, we will map out the available touch points within neighbourhoods that could facilitate social mixing. This would include the ease of access to common spaces, amenities and opportunities for choice of education. This is because an important aspect of social inequality is having reasonably fair access to different resources. We will use the Hansen Accessibility Index's REAT measure to assess the accessibility of residents within each neighbourhood to these public spaces. We will then plot and visualise these indices across neighbourhoods for comparison. For amenities that exist segregation of access, such as schools, pre-schools and childcare centres, geographical accessibility will be assessed separately based on its class, that is GEP/SAP vs Mainstream Schools and Subsidised vs Privatised Pre-Schools/Childcare Centres.

DATA SOURCES

Our team's datasets are retrieved from https://data.gov.sg

Type	Format	Data	Source URL
Boundary (Polygon)	SHP	OSM Layer (Singapore)	OpenStreet Map
Boundary (Polygon)	SHP	Master Plan 2014 Subzone Boundary (No Sea)	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/master-plan-2014-subzone-boundary-no-sea
Demographics	CSV	Estimated Singapore Resident Population in HDB Flats	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/estimated-resident-population-living-in-hdb-flats
Demographics	CSV	Dwelling Units under HDB's Management, by Town and Flat Type	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/number-of-residential-units-under-hdb-s-management
Demographics	CSV	Residents by Age Group & Type of Dwelling, Annual	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/residents-by-age-group-type-of-dwelling-annual
Demographics	CSV	Land Area and Dwelling Units by Town	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/land-area-and-dwelling-units-by-town
Demographics	SHP	Singapore Residents by Subzone and Type of Dwelling, June 2016	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/singapore-residents-by-subzone-and-type-of-dwelling-june-2016
Demographics	SHP	Singapore Residents by Subzone, Age Group and Sex, June 2016 (Gender)	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/singapore-residents-by-subzone-age-group-and-sex-june-2016-gender
Demographics	SHP	Resident Population of Other Ethnic Groups by Age Group, Ethnic Group and Sex, 2015	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/resident-population-of-other-ethnic-groups-by-age-group-ethnic-group-and-sex-2015
Amenities	CSV	Primary Schools	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/school-directory-and-information
Spaces	SHP	Parks (including playgrounds)	https://data.gov.sg/dataset/parks

TIMELINE & MILESTONES

The following table shows the timeline and milestones of our project. Details will be updated progressively.

S/N	Task	Done by	Week	Status
1	Topic Brainstorming	ALL	2 & 3	Completed ✔
2	Drafting and refinement of Project Proposal	ALL	2 & 3	Completed ✔
3	Consultation with Prof Kam for Feedback on Proposal	ALL	4	Completed ✔
4	Finalization of Project Topic and Focus	ALL	5	Completed ✔
5	Compilation and Cleaning of Datasets 1. Geocoding and Categorization of Schools 2. Combine all Demographics datasets (Housing, Age and Ethnic) for analysis by Subzone 3. Convert all spatial files to WGS84 for OSM compatibility 4. Data Clean, Manipulate and Overlay the Amenities/Spaces with Demographics datasets	Grace Yuing	6	Completed ✔
6	1st Wiki Content Update (Proposal, Methodology & Storyboard)	Yuqing Yuanjing	6	Completed ✔
7	Independent learning of R and R Shiny on DataCamp	ALL	6 & 7	In Progress ✔
8	Consultation with Prof Kam for Feedback on tools for Geospatial Analysis	ALL	7	Completed ✔
9	2nd Wiki Content Update	Yuqing	7	Completed ✔
10	Map Development PART 1: Kernel Density Estimate: Grace PART 2: Hansen Potential Analysis: Grace PART 3: Common Spaces for Solutioning: Yuanjing	Grace Yuanjing	7 - 9
11	Interface Development User Interface (Web Layout): Yuqing User Interface (Description) : Yuanjing	Yuqing Yuanjing	8 - 9
12	Consultation with Prof Kam for Feedback on progress/techniques	ALL	9
13	Debugging and Analysis of Results	ALL	9
14	Consultation with Prof Kam for Feedback on final product	ALL	10
15	Creating and Submission of Poster	Yuqing	11
16	Uploading of App on Shinyapps.io (Artefact)	Yuanjing	12
17	Finalizing Wiki Page & Research Paper (Deliverables)	ALL	13
18	Poster Presentation / Conference	ALL	14

TOOLS & PACKAGES

The following is a list of tools to be adopted for the project’s scope.

QGIS Open Street Map OneMap Geocode R Studio R libraries shiny leaflet rgdal sf sp spatstat dplyr plyr maptools shinydashboard spatialsegregation REAT SpatialAcc ggmap SpatialPosition maptools shinyBS shinyJS

REFERENCES TO RELATED WORKS

1. We would like to credit the following referenced visualization works adopted in the design of our dashboard. Centroid-Amenities: An Interactive Visual Analytical Tool for Exploring and Analysing Amenities in Singapore Authors: Siew Xue Qian Jazreel, Tay Wei Xuan, Sean Koh Jia Ming https://jazreelsiew.shinyapps.io/AppV2/

2. The following also lists the referenced literature considered in the design of our problem statement.

No	Title	Link	Author
1	Commentary: Inequality has a geographic dimension - between and within neighbourhoods in Singapore	https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/inequality-in-singapore-exists-across-within-neighbourhoods-10276898	Leong Chan-Hoong
2	Lack of social mixing is a symptom of inequality, not a cause	https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/lack-of-social-mixing-is-a-symptom-of-inequality-not-a-cause#main-content	Teo You Yenn
3	Class divide: Singapore in danger of becoming academic aristocracy	https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/class-divide-singapore-in-danger-of-becoming-academic-aristocracy	Chua Mui Hoong
4	The Big Read: Social stratification — a poison seeping into S’pore’s housing estates and schools	https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/big-read-social-stratification-poison-seeping-spores-housing-estates-and-schools	Kelly Ng and Toh Ee Ming
5	COMMENT: Can Singapore's elite circle turn around growing social divide?	https://sg.news.yahoo.com/comment-can-singapores-elite-circle-turn-around-growing-divide-124724650.html	Nicholas Yong
6	This Is What Inequality Looks Like	Ethos Books (Publisher)	Teo You Yenn