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Hong Kong Public Space Initiative (“HKPSI”) is a charitable non-profit organization founded in 2011. Through research, education and community engagement programs, we strive to bring the knowledge of public space to all walks of life, in order for people of Hong Kong to appreciate the value of public space for a more livable city. Looking into the community of Tsuen Wan in UABB2019, we are collectively envisioning how to make the public space of Tsuen Wan becoming more livable, from tour, audit and reflection of existing spaces, to collectively brainstorming the possibility of the city through workshops and action-research.

Revitalizing the Space: Tsuen Wan Public Space Studio

How does secondary school student envision the public space of Tsuen Wan? The Public Space Studio provides an opportunity for secondary school students to understand, explore and evaluate public space issues in Tsuen Wan, supplementing the current curriculum of Liberal Studies and Geography. The activities spanning three days will be delivered in a progressive approach: Participants would first acquire urban development and planning knowledge through lectures, follows with on-site engagement activities and concludes with a hands-on design workshop, as an integrated learning experience with textbook knowledge, actual experience and feedback mechanism.

Based on their empirical observation and conversation with its users, students evaluate the public space with their tactile experience and generate various creative proposals of their ideal public space of Tsuen Wan by the end of the studio. Students will then understand the importance of place-making.

Place-walking.Tsuen Wan

Underneath Tsuen Wan’s characteristic network of flyovers where people pass and go, another realm of shops on ground enlivens the community of Tsuen Wan, where people stay, chat and live. Various types of public spaces, from the grandiose plaza of city hall, pocket park to informal enclaves, are weaved together by footbridges and give rise to various ways of people living and using the space. Within this short journey, we have a glance into the decades of a paradigm shift in public space planning & provision and how it changes our public life. Let’s walk into the places of Tsuen Wan for a stereoscopic journey between footbridges and ground of the community.

“Place-Play-ing” of Jenga

How can playing make a place? Giant Jenga has been popped up and brought joy to over 20 places in the last 4 years and it now comes to UABB2019. By first placing a game, which is a seed of interaction in urban space, we observe how people interact and change the space, and subsequently discover people’s creativity and imagination with Giant Jenga.

Flexibility is the key, allowing the pop-up to be adapting to scenarios of user’s needs and accommodating spaces of various characteristics. That’s our belief in “place-making”: a continuous transformation and improvisation from space to place by everyone, rather than a “parenting” city with prescribed usage of every single fixture.