Residents living in the Shau Kei Wan district collects fresh, clean water from the mountains for washing or watering their potted plants. Some have even improvised by inserting a water bottle into the outlet and attach it to a plastic hose in order to prevent the water from touching the retaining wall, which may lead to contamination. 

The support services such as security and general maintenance are contracted out to a private company for a specific period of time through a tendering process. However, an interesting clause in the contract states that the service staff will have to be retained by the new company when it takes over if their performances were satisfactory. This policy ensures that the staff who have developed strong ties with the community over the years will continue to provide the social bonding while continuing with their assigned responsibilities. While observing the interactions of the staff and the residents one morning, I could sense the strong community ties despite the fact that the estate was only over two years old.  

Successful public landscaping in estate provides a welcomed relief from the closely packed, high density housing units. As the housing estate is sited on a steep hill, the architect designed a series of tiered landscaped gardens that gradually stepped towards the street level.

The walls of interior public seating areas are covered with large pictures of life in the area before its redevelopment. Seats and the metal gates salvaged from the demolished shops were carefully restored and given a second life in the new housing estate. The space is a favorite spot for the elderly to gather during inclement weather.

An old tree was relocated from another site after the local residents requested that it be retained. The architect placed the tree in the public plaza of the housing estate and circled it with a wooden bench. The tree-seat meeting place became a very successful public space for local residents to meet their friends or just sit and people watch.

Our visit to the recently completed Upper Ngau Tau Kok housing estate in Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR was a great lesson in the integration of public landscaping, residential, social and cultural needs in a public housing estate. Sprinkled along the whole estate were thoughtful provisions of public amenities that allowed the local residents to socialize in intimate and large-scale settings. As the housing estate was a redevelopment project, residents who had been living in the area were asked to donate artifacts and pictures, which were showcased in the specially designed display cases between the columns. A low bench extended across the display case and offered tired elderly residents to rest or chat with a friend. Through a simple yet powerful design gesture, collective memories of the place were weaved intimately into the present and future lives of the housing estate. 

The Global Design Studio started on January 5, 2012 in one of the densest city on earth- Hong Kong. For 6 days, interior design students from the School of Design, Singapore Polytechnic conducted research on 2 sites with very different characters; one was an old residential district and the other amidst the financial district of Hong Kong island. The project brief required them to select 3 urban artifacts (bus-stop, tram-stop, public seats, etc.) and offer creative solutions that integrate programs, user needs, and the socio-cultural uniqueness of the sites. They presented their research and initial findings to a panel of professors from the architecture and design departments of Hong Kong University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 

I just came back from LSE's Urban Age conference in Hong Kong on Cities, Health and Well-being. Saskia Sassen's keynote to the delegates was one of the highlights in the 2-day symposium. The data she had amassed to analyse the shift from 'national territory' to 'global commodity'- the privatization and foreign ownership of land for water, food and the extraction of rare earth, was enlightening to say the least. Using her data, she also predicted the potential collapse of China's and India's housing sector if their respective governments don't reign in the predatory actions of hedge fund companies. Richard Sennett was the calm and discerning voice in the conference. He reminded everyone not to go overboard in overcoming stress in cities, and the need to develop social competency among the young. For Sennett, having a stress-free city is not necessary a good thing. It removes our attentiveness to the surrounding environment, which is increasingly a rare quality among the young with all the digital distractions around them. It was also inspiring to witness the robust debates among Hong Kong policy makers, academics and social activists. The longstanding spirit of entrepreneurship coupled by its open, tolerant society makes this one of the most exciting cities in Asia.

I returned from the Sofia Architecture Week 2 weeks ago and it was one of the most memorable events I attended this year. Thanks to the incredible hospitality of everyone involved, and the excellent curatorial leaderships of Ljubo Georgiev and Hans Ibelings, SAW 11 presented a wide ranging series of excellent lectures and events that opened up provocative questions to the role architecture can play beyond buildings. The event also introduced me to many architects from East and Western Europe who are doing incredible works that are responsive to our milieu. I was very inspired by the actions of the younger generation of architects who aspired to carve a different future for themselves after the void left by the Communist regime. It is not an easy task as the market economy, which tends to flatten and erase anything that is considered old or unproductive will re-make Sofia to look like any generic, uninspiring city around the globe.