ZngOurHood

ZngOurHood helps turn resident ideas into clear community signals, so neighbourhood priorities are visible, shared, and better understood. It gives residents a way to contribute ideas meaningfully, and enables community leaders to make more informed, transparent decisions. Find out more at https://go.gov.sg/zng.

How It Began

It all started with a simple experience.

One of our team members wanted to suggest a playground near his home for his kids. Nothing was broken, so filing a report felt inappropriate. He also didn’t know who to approach, or whether other families felt the same way.

That led to a simple question:

Why This Matters

Residents care deeply about their neighbourhoods and often spot opportunities for improvement, such as safer walkways, more greenery, better shared spaces.

But when ideas aren’t about fixing something that’s broken, many residents are unsure:

• where to share them,

• whether others feel the same way, and

• how decisions about neighbourhood improvements are made.

Existing channels are effective for issue reporting, but not for surfacing shared priorities or explaining decisions.

The Core Problem

Today, neighbourhood enhancement ideas are:

• spread across many channels (emails, Meet-the-People Sessions, house visits),

• handled privately and individually, and

• difficult to compare or prioritise fairly.

As a result, residents lack visibility into what others care about, and decision-makers lack a clear, shared signal of community priorities.

Our Learnings and Insights

From interviews with residents, Grassroots Advisers, Grassroots Leaders, and other community leaders, four themes stood out.

1. People want to suggest ideas, but don’t know where

2. People care about what others think

Residents wanted to know:

• Whether others shared the same concerns or ideas

• Whether an idea reflected a personal preference or a broader community need

Support mattered, but shared understanding and context mattered even more.

3. Decision-makers lack a clear, shared signal

Ideas are generated across many channels, making it challenging to prioritise them and gather meaningful qualitative feedback.

4. Transparent processes should be guided by thoughtful decisions

Stakeholders agreed that:

• Visible decision-making increases understanding and acceptance of outcomes.

• Popularity alone should not determine which ideas are implemented.

Our Idea

ZngOurHood turns individual ideas into a clear, shared community signal.

It enables:

• Residents see what their neighbours care about.

• Decision-makers understand community priorities more clearly.

• Everyone to understand how and why decisions are made.

How It Works (at a glance)

For residents

• Browse ideas across Singapore.

• Log in using Singpass.

• Submit or support ideas within their constituency.

• Add short explanations to explain why an idea matters to them.

Supporting is not the same as voting. It helps show interest and reasoning, rather than directly deciding outcomes.

For Decision-makers

• Review ideas for scope, feasibility, and alignment with priorities

• Update statuses of proposed ideas through clear, transparent stages (e.g. Open for Feedback, Exploring Feasibility, Planning in Progress, Completed, Not proceeding).

• Explain decisions and trade-offs in clear, plain language.

What Changes If This Works

For decision-makers

• Clearer signals of what matters most to the community

• A broader mix of quantitative data and qualitative perspectives to inform decisions

For residents

• A shared platform for residents to contribute ideas and understand neighbourhood sentiment

• Better understanding of the trade-offs involved in neighbourhood decisions

• Increased trust through openness and transparency

ZngOurHood Is Not

• A fault-reporting system (OneService already does this)

• A promise that popular ideas must be implemented

Decisions remain with constituency leaders. But they are made with clearer signals and shared understanding.

Where We Are Now

Over the past month, we built and deployed a working MVP at go.gov.sg/zng.

Residents can:

• Browse neighbourhood ideas

• Log in using SingPass

• Submit a new idea within their constituency

• Support ideas within their constituency

• Leave qualitative comments explaining why an idea matters

Decision-makers can:

• Moderate ideas

• Update idea statuses (Open for Feedback, Exploring Feasibility, Planning in Progress, Completed, Not Proceeding)

• Add explanations to make decisions transparent

This MVP includes:

• SingPass authentication

• Constituency-based filtering

• A basic admin interface for community leaders

As of Feb 2026

• We are looking to run a limited pilot with a single housing estate to validate the solution.

The Team

Lennard - Product Manager

Cheryl - International Tech Strategy

Samantha - Product Designer

Khaleedah - Product Designer