Singapore – Enabling Village, the first inclusive community space in Singapore with a strong focus on training and employment for persons with disabilities, received the 2022 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Award for Excellence at a ceremony graced by Minister for National Development Mr Desmond Lee, on 11 November 2022.
Developed and managed by SG Enable, Enabling Village is recognised with five other projects from around the world – uch as Essex Crossing (United States) – as winners of the 2022 ULI Global Awards for Excellence. These winners were selected from a pool of 26 global finalists who had first won in the highly competitive regional competitions that saw a total of 152 submissions. Earlier in June 2022, Enabling Village was selected as one of 13 winners of the Asia Pacific edition of the Awards, and it was the only winning project from Singapore.
The Global Awards jury lauded Enabling Village for creating a dedicated and supportive environment for people with disabilities to receive job training and education. “The project demonstrates a successful model for integrating disability services and accessible design into an existing community,” it said.
“The six developments from around the world serve as replicable models for how developers across a diverse set of circumstances can successfully transform their communities for the better. These projects go above and beyond in furthering ULI’s mission worldwide,” said Professor Khoo Teng Chye, chair, ULI Asia Pacific. “I am impressed by Enabling Village, the first-of-its-kind development in Singapore that fosters an inclusive community by welcoming people of all abilities and deepens integration with the local neighbourhood.”
Ms Ku Geok Boon, CEO of SG Enable, said: “We are honoured to have won such international recognition. We have catalysed greater disability inclusion efforts beyond Enabling Village through impactful innovations in early childhood education, sports and wellness, and inclusive training and employment. With these successes, we are expanding Enabling Village to prototype more social innovations to address the post-18 cliff effects. We seek partners and supporters to join us in Building Dreams and Enabling Lives.”
Enabling Village is expanding to do more and better for persons with disabilities. The four-storey extension, to be completed by 2024, will be a model for inclusion and innovation. It is part of the larger strategy to garner corporate and community support to address the post-18 cliff effects. This will be done through the 4Es: Enable, Enterprise, Envision and Engage.
To mark the start of the development of the Enabling Village extension, Minister Desmond Lee launched the Design Playbook for Inclusive Spaces. The playbook is developed for businesses and establishments looking to make their spaces more inclusive.
