Public Spaces in Hong Kong Housing Estates: an Integration of People and Places

About half of total population lives in public housing in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Housing Authority is committed to develop a highly interacted community and social network by improving the layout-design of public housing estates over decades. However, research suggests that the community interaction in housing estates in Hong Kong has been declining day by day. This study focuses on public space focusing on outdoor communal spaces in public housing layouts of different prototypes and periods. Attributes of public spaces, that impact on neighborly interaction within estates in Hong Kong, have been highlighted for investigation here. This monograph sequentially aims to look into the following research questions - How does a layout design influence public spaces and impact on neighborly interaction? What makes a space successful to the people of different groups, ages, and interests? The answers of these questions would help the design-professionals and the city-authorities to shed some light on public spaces in dealing with new and existing housing layouts at the neighborhood level in Hong Kong as well as in the world.