Applying Behavioural Insights (BI) to nudge sports court users toward considerate noise-related behaviour in the community

📌 About the project

• Bishan East-Sin Ming Ward, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC (2024).

• Led by Temasek Polytechnic’s (TP) School of Humanities & Social Sciences, in partnership with Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council (BTPTC) and supported by the MSO’s Project Code R.E.D. (Research, Engage, Deploy) initiative for Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs).

• Developed educational posters with an LED device to nudge basketball court users to practise consideration and leave by the courts’ closing times to minimise congregational noise.

🏘️ The issue

• Basketball court users frequently stayed past the courts’ closing hours, causing late-night noise disturbances for residents in nearby HDB flats.

💡 What we did

• The project team conducted interviews with users of the basketball courts as well as on-ground observations, in July 2024.

• Behaviourial insights (BI) principles were applied to design and implement different BI interventions over a one-month period, featuring varied messages and reminders to encourage basketball court users to leave before the courts’ closing times. These interventions included:

  • Posters highlighting court usage rules, evoking empathy for nearby residents, and using positive messaging, such as “As a good basketball player, use the court responsibly”.

  • A time-management device with green, yellow, and red lights, as well as a digital countdown clock, to display remaining time and provide immediate feedback to users.

• The interventions were placed at eye-level near benches where users typically gathered.

The BI posters with solutions implemented by the project team.

🔍 What we learnt

• Clear rules, reminders, and environmental feedback (e.g. clocks and time-management devices) were more effective in encouraging users to leave before the courts’ closing times. Familiar cues, such as a traffic light colour system on the time-management device, provided intuitive signals that supported behaviour change.

• Interventions relying on empathy and pro-social norms were less effective in influencing behaviour.

• Behavioural science principles helped surface that informational nudges (i.e. clear rules and reminders) and environmental feedback were significantly more effective than moral nudges for this user group.

⚙️ Key considerations

• Intervention materials needed to be securely placed and remain visible throughout the project period.

• Behavioural nudges were more effective when information was clear and straightforward, minimising cognitive load for users.

📈 Impact

• Based on the team’s findings, there was a significant increase in the proportion of users leaving before the courts’ closing times for two of its BI solutions: (1) about 60% for the rules and reminder poster, and (2) over 50% for the time-management device.

• The project developed a framework and a set of possible BI solutions for potential rollout to other neighbourhood basketball courts across Singapore.