Second, give residents a genuine hand in shaping their own neighbourhoods. Today that usually means joining a residents' committee, a standing commitment not everyone wants to make. 

An alternative is to convene small rotating citizens' assemblies alongside them. Each assembly might have about 20 residents drawn at random across age, race, housing and income, sitting for three months on actual local problems, with a real say in the outcome: from neighbour disputes and second-hand smoke to how a slice of the estate budget is spent. 

The aim is to make this a civic duty everyone takes a turn at, randomly selected, not left to the willing few, so the assembly reflects the whole estate rather than the usual joiners. The mixing matters too, and can help build what a fraying society often lacks: the habit of working with people unlike ourselves, and the challenges and opportunities it brings. This is bridging social capital in action.

Third, we need more everyday, low-stakes spaces where strangers can meet. These can include neighbourhood tours that connect seniors, youths and newcomers through the void decks, hawker centres and markets, and informal groups formed over shared interests.

These settings work because the stakes are low. People first meet as neighbours, readers or fellow enthusiasts. And by putting them alongside others they would otherwise never meet, this helps to build what a fraying society needs most: trust across difference.

Are we in a social recession? Perhaps not yet. But the data should worry us because this kind of loss arrives without alarm. 

Singapore has spent decades building economic, human and physical capital. The next bound is relational: the trust, ties and everyday habits that keep a social recession at bay. Building them is work for all of us, not the government alone.

Nicholas Thomas, Wong Kang Li and Wilson Goh are from the Institute of Policy Studies Policy Lab at the National University of Singapore.