Housing imaginations lecture 3, 2017

Housing imaginations lecture 3  topics, 2017
On the notion of "place" in the HK context
                                                                                    [back to teaching plan]

1. Review lecture  2 class exercise question:

"Lecture 2: class exercise: discuss the challenges involved in using the "place" notion to study HI in HK setting as compared with the Western world settings".


Comments: the notion of "place" is a rich and malleable HI theme that can be employed to study Housing Imagination topics in the HK setting. Very often , the application  of "place" makes use of qualitative research methods that do not specify detailed step-by-step research endavour. For this reason, HI concepts, e.g., the notion of place, can be applied in the HK context with valuable insights. Nevertheless, analysts using the "place" concept could find the relevant literature not very clear in its employment guidelines. This reflects that the "place" notion and its usage ideas do not constitute an engineering-type of research approach.


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Background knowledge required: what is social relations? (video), social processes? (note), social structure and interaction (video)? [also study society and social interaction (video)], social institutions (video); power structure in sociology (brief note) and urbanism.

Specifically,  "Social processes are the ways in which individuals and groups interact, adjust and readjust and establish relationships and pattern of behaviour which are again modified through social interactions".
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2. Review the notion of place with reference to the Hong Kong setting:

All exercises make use of the place notion diagram:

Two additional lecture slides:

• 2.1: A reading on the space-place-home matrix (pdf) [From me] ; another one is related to housing policy (pdf).

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• At this point, students should be aware of the critical schools of thinking on human geography, e.g. associated with feminism and the works of David Harvey.
• 2.2: An interpretation of photo 1 [of Sheung Shui] with the notion of place
• 2.3: An interpretation of photo 2 [Sheung Shui Railway station] with the notion of place

Photo 2 (Sheung Shui Railway Station]

• 2.4. A photo analysis on North Point local market with the notion of place

•  2.5. A video on time square (Hong Kong): an analysis with the place notion.
• 2.6. A video on Tai O (Hong Kong): an analysis with the place notion. [class discussion case 1]
• 2.7. A news article on  a case study (a Japanese working in Hong Kong) [class discussion case 2]
• 2.8. A video on HK (60-80) - about personal biography with a place
• 2.9 A video on Kowloon Wall City. [class discussion case 3]
• 2.10: Newspaper article study (Hong Kong) - related to the topic of gentrification [class discussion case 4]
• 2.11: a video on Pok Fu Lam Village [class discussion case 5].
• 2.12: a video on Wedding Card Street urban renewal project [class discussion case 6]
• 2.13 Sheung Wan 1964 (video); now.
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• Tse, B. 2014. “Gentrification of Western District: Why locals aren’t all happy” ejinsight December 29 (url address: http://www.ejinsight.com/20141229-gentrification-of-western-district-evokes-mixed-feelings/) [visited at February 7, 2017].
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“         "Old buildings, traditional shops and a genteel, laidback environment — these have been some of the common impressions about the Western District of Hong Kong Island over the years. But now all this is set to change with the opening of MTR’s West Island rail line.…. Gentrification is a common term in urban planning. It refers to shifts in urban community lifestyle along with an increasing number of wealthy residents and businesses backed by big companies…… Old buildings like tenement houses (buildings with no lifts) that once sprouted across the community are being demolished, and luxury housing is popping up all over the place instead. Quaint little shops are giving way to chain stores with bright decor…. Some say the gentrification is an upgrading process; bringing in the MTR line could be seen as part of revamping the old district….. But property prices in the district are climbing fast, and so is the cost of living. This is proving burdensome to some old residents. ….. Property developers are wasting no time to develop new projects and take advantage of the rising home prices. Developers such as Emperor International and Kowloon Development are said to have launched a total of around 300 units onto the market recently…… Growing number of bars and increasing nightlife is another source of worry for the original residents….. As some expatriates have sought to flee the high rents in Wan Chai, Central and Mid-Levels, many bars and restaurants are being opened in the Western District. Thus, Kennedy Town is now sometimes being called the New SoHo….  The change taking place in the district is generating mixed reactions from the local community. Some people think that bars will attract the wrong kind of people”.

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       Further suggestions about HI assignment 1: By the time students have learned  all the three prime HI notions, i.e. space, place and home, they need to consider a housing theme in the HK setting for doing assignment 1. Some related works from me are the New Territories Small Houses and Sub-divided flats. There are also FB resources on Wedding Card Street. Works on generic themes include gentrification, homelessness and urban renewal. These writings and e-resources are relevant study materials for doing HI assignment 1.