Perforating the City?

Project Summary

This workshop series explores how spatial and social practices can perforate urban divisions and create pathways of encounter, empathy, and understanding across social, cultural, and economic differences. In response to rising polarization and stratification, Perforating the City examines how urban spaces and practices can facilitate “social permeability” — the capacity for relationships and exchanges across disparate communities. Through a series of three workshops focusing on Engaging, Commoning, and Gardening, the project convenes scholars and practitioners across Asia to reflect on, document, and theorize practices that foster relational urbanism and civic connection.

The first two workshops took place in 2025, beginning with Engaging (March, Singapore), Commoning (May, Singapore), and concluding with Gardening, upcoming next year. Each session examines specific practices — from community engagement to cooperative spatial arrangements and ecological care — to advance comparative insights into how social permeability is cultivated in urban contexts.

Project Website

Objectives & Research Questions

How do different spatial and social practices foster encounters and understanding across diverse and divided urban communities?

What challenges and opportunities emerge when designing for social permeability?

What theoretical and methodological frameworks best capture the dynamics of relational urbanism in Asian cities?