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PB 001 Title Have a Seat. Own the Park – A Community Project in Yau Ma Tei Author Hong Kong Public Space Initiatives Text Adrian, Caroline, Danica, Dominic, Gary, Helen, Kanic, Keith, Leo, York Cartoon Wayne Editor Caroline, Dominic, Kanic Design Underwater Production Publisher Hong Kong Public Space Initiatives Publication Date June 2015 Categories Social Science, Urban Planning, Architecture Not for Sale Copyright © All rights reserved. Envisioning Spaces. Engaging Lives. www.hkpsi.org HKPSI info @hkpsi.org HKPSI About Hong Kong Public Space Initiative Think Tank Team “Hong Kong Public Space Initiative” The Think Tank Team of HKPSI is (HKPSI) is a non-profit making formed by professionals from different charitable organisation set up by a discipline. Through carrying out ex- group of young people working in periments, studies and community different professional fields. Through participation, it hopes to break through community participation activities, the traditional planning methods educational activities and academic and create public space that meets studies, our organisation brings to the people's ideal. different sectors of society knowledge about public space so that Hong Kong Last year, HKPSI conducted a people will better understand the year-long project in Yau Ma Tei. Using meaning and importance of public street interviews, focused discussion, space. public voting, public art participation and other activities, it designed HKPSI believes that engaging public a successful public space together life should be the starting point of with the residents of Yau Ma Tei. At pubic space: if there is no public life the same time, HKPSI studied the in public space, it will be like a body conditions required for residents’ without a soul. It exists but is not “ideal public space”, and merged the living. conditions with community art and city street furniture to create a vision for public space through a bottom up approach. 「拓展公共空間」與威廉懷特（William H. Whyte, 1980）分享著相似的理念： HKPSI shares a similar ideology of Mr William H. Whyte, 1980: Public spaces as expression of human endeavor and artifacts of the social world are the physical and metaphysical heart of the cities, thus providing channels for movement, nodes of communication and common ground for cultural activities. William H. Whyte, 1980 TABLE OF CONTENTS Let’s begin 008 First experience in the community 016 Big discovery 028 Universal suffrage of chairs 044 CHAPTER 01 CHAPTER 02 CHAPTER 03 CHAPTER 04 Moveable chairs: experiments at park 074 Paint it your way 094 Party at the park 118 CHAPTER 05 CHAPTER 06 CHAPTER 07 Let's Begin 008 009 How should we begin to review the development of Hong Kong’s public space? Right from the beginning of the establishment of HKPSI, it has given itself the duty of promulgating to the public the meaning and importance of public space. This year, our Think Tank Team hoped to revamp the public space of Yau Ma Tei district through an innovative experiment on public space and a series of community engagement activities. This one-year- long “Own Your Park” project was therefore formulated. 010 011 Choosing Yau Ma Tei Why did we choose to carry out this pre-war old-styled 6-storey residen- experimentation project in Yau Ma Tei? tial buildings, buildings of more than And what was the role played by this 10 stories that were built later, as well district in the topic of public space in as redevelopment projects such as 8 our city? First of all, Yau Ma Tei has Waterloo Road. All these continued a long history. As early as 100 years to bring changes to the population ago, Chinese people began to live in structure of Yau Ma Tei. Besides, the district, creating a prosperous there are plenty of local economic market place. The district also activities with special characteristics, witnessed the changes in the Chinese such as herbal tea shops, fruit market, community in Hong Kong over the palmistry fortune telling stalls, metal last 100 years. As at today, Yau Ma and wood shops, kitchenware shops, Tei is a matured district. It is a rare bazaars, restaurants and cinemas, phenomenon that while the district congregating to form a “cultural life draws numerous overseas tourists museum” of Yau Ma Tei. ever year, it can still preserve its unique local characteristics. However, with the continuing redevelopment projects in Hong Kong, The multi-faceted characteristic of how can these characteristics be Yau Ma Tei can be seen from the preserved? How can this diversified structure of its population. According community continued to be developed to the 2011 Census, non-Chinese harmoniously? The Central Kowloon residents amounted to 21.6% of the Route, the nearby Hong Kong Station entire population of the district (cal- of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong culating on the Tertiary Planning Kong Express Rail Link and the Unit 225), which was more than three West Kowloon Cultural District to be times the ratio of 6.3% in the whole completed in the near future are set to of Hong Kong. Apart from their bring more changes to this old district. different nationality, they also spoke It will be even more difficult to engage different languages, for example, the different community groups in the Putonghua, Hokkien, English, Filipino, district while preserving local char- Indonesian etc. They amounted to acteristics. Therefore, we decided to 22.4% of the district’s population and carry out the experiments on public the figure more than doubled the space in Yau Ma Tei, with the aim of 10.4% of people using non-Cantonese enhancing the cohesion of this lovely as daily language in the entire Hong and diversified community through in- Kong. As for land use and architec- tegrating public art into the district. tural characteristics, you may find Starting with chairs All along, HKPSI believes if a district to be brought by chairs. In fact, in lacks an ideal piece of public space, all the stages of street interviews, engaging the community will be empty voting and observation last year, we talk. Public space is important because proceeded steadily and learnt a lot it serves as a platform for people to from the people and incidents we en- set up inter-personal relationship. We countered. believe the construction of ideal public space can be started by using the most Pubic space and community life go natural method. Therefore, we started hand in hand. In order to deepen from one of the most indispensable our understanding of the district, we facilities in the park, chairs. Through searched every corner of the streets to public art, we changed the seats that look for stories behind the old shops people had got used to, sparked off and the neighbourhood, and interacted their imagination and brought about a with families of different ethnic different public space. minorities in the park. Apart from understanding the residents’ living However, in the process of carrying habits, we also created a wide network out this experiment, it was inevitable in preparation for the future “chair that people inside or outside the team painting workshop” and the “party at casted doubt on the impact of changes the park”. 012 013 THE PROCESS ch 02 ch 03 ch 04 Street interviews Focused discussion Universal suffrage The process of mutual Arouse residents’ understanding: interest and encourage them to give their views: Get to know the community, understand the residents’ Spark off residents’ imag- life and their views towards ination about chairs in the public space and their parks. usage pattern. Let residents take part in Let the community know us the easiest way and create a cordial relationship. ch 05 ch 06 ch 07 Experiments on Carnivals and public space Creative workshop other activities Putting residents’ Invite residents to become Recreate a public space wishes into actuality: designers and creators: that belongs to everyone: Act according to the To experience how the Use the most natural way residents’ wishes. Put the residents and artists work to integrate public art abstract concept into an hand together in the de- into pubic space and the actual design of chairs in the velopment of public space community. park by the professionals. by completing a piece of public art with the district’s Let residents feel and enjoy Use experiments to obtain characteristics: a chair in the changed public space. users’ feedback both openly the park. and discretely. 014 015 First experience in the community 016 017 First experience in the community Every year in various places in the develop public art projects that suit world, there are different projects to the local situation. enhance community cohesion through public art. Innovative art became Therefore, in applying artistic the best medicine to engage the innovation and using the most community. Some of these projects negligible chairs in public space to succeeded, some failed. When we add vitality and interaction in the saw the successful cases, apart community, we had to start from un- from getting excited, we would also derstanding the living pattern, habits consider whether or not they could be and preferences of different persons implemented in Hong Kong. However, in that community. In Chapter 01, we we understood that different villages analysed the population characteris- had their own rules. The successful tics of Yau Ma Tei district. This is a examples from overseas could not be complex community, with many elderly simply reproduced. Only by working residents who were over 60 years old, from the community and understand- plenty of ethnic minorities residents, ing its people and practices, could we and numerous young families moving into the district. In order to better first recorded the interviewees’ char- understand the lives of different acteristics so that we could categorise groups of people in the community, the major user groups of public space we conducted street interviews with in Yau Ma Tei.

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