SINGAPORE – On a Saturday morning, the bustling heart of Punggol’s Northshore Plaza is not the mall’s enormous Decathlon store or the McDonald’s. Instead, the lively epicentre is the mall’s third-floor Learn and Play Zone. When The Straits Times arrives, Punggol resident Samantha Ong is peering through the glass window of enrichment centre Tree Art as her four-year-old daughter Yun Jie creates her latest masterpiece.
Ms Ong later mentions her concern about her only child’s ability to cope without her during the lesson, but it is clear that she, too, feels the pang of separation. She is not alone, being among dozens of parents who line the hallways, waving and cooing at their children. A parade of kids will rush out after class to show off their artwork to waiting parents.
This heartland scene is playing out in the dedicated enrichment and education zone in Northshore Plaza, a “new-generation neighbourhood centre” that opened in 2021. All six of these new neighbourhood centres (NCs), with the exception of Canberra Plaza in Sembawang, are in Singapore’s north-east neighbourhoods of Hougang, Buangkok, Sengkang and Punggol – fast-developing areas that are seeing an influx of new estates and families. These NCs are malls and mixed spaces operated by the Housing Board.
The first of these malls, Oasis Terraces in Punggol, was unveiled in 2019. They also represent the evolving nature of Singapore’s mall culture. These new malls are designed with large open-air a.
