Neighbourhood Commons
@ Wan Chai

Neighbourhood: Wan Chai
Project Date: 2020-2021
Partnered with: Hong Kong Arts Centre, Wan Chai District Council, BODW - CityProg
Key Topics Explored: New & Old Integration, Inclusive Open Space, Space Activation

Neighbourhood Commons @ Wan Chai is a project funded by Wan Chai District Council to experiment with how we might explore the potential of activating different types of public spaces - from sidewalks, pedestrianised streets, private terraces to public parks as inclusive public spaces.

At present, there are a lot of improvised uses: from the extension of local restaurants with foldable tables and chairs to accommodate more customers, to local neighbours who use plants to block cars parking everywhere. In our research, we have started to observe a lot of interesting adaptations that are human-centred and day-to-day.

The project is based on the simple premise of extending these authentic programming of streets as public spaces. These imply informal adaptations, and eventually, ways of formalising these informal adaptations into actual, inclusive public spaces. These kinds of journeys have been adopted in many different cities across the globe, and the process is usually long and dreary, but it would have to start somewhere. This is the start of it for Wan Chai in our opinion, to use topics as such to cultivate civic awareness and ownership.