Believing that the “place” has the power to improve lives through design and collaboration, Very Hong Kong and our School conceived the “Space+” programme, hoping to foster NGOs and community partnership by training young leaders to become urban change makers.
Date 08.01.2023 – 15.01.2023
Location Tin Ching Plaza and Tin Shui Plaza, Tin Shui Wai
Believing that the “place” has the power to improve lives through design and collaboration, Very Hong Kong and our School conceived the “Space+” programme, hoping to foster NGOs and community partnership by training young leaders to become urban change makers. After months of placemaking training lessons for NGOs, a two-week Community Festival was held at Tin Shui Wai in early January.
Combining a team of teachers and students of urban design, urban studies and architecture backgrounds, together with our collaborator LCC, our School led the placemaking process for the Festival, catering to the community users' needs with funding support from the CUHK 60th Anniversary Celebration programme. Led by Prof. Melody Yiu and Ms. Jessica Cheung, students from the Urban Collaborative Studio put tactical urbanism ideas into practice as they created info booths, stage, way-finding graphics and play zones with duct tapes, stickers, bunting, grass carpets, carton boxes and frames. On the other hand, the Unitinno team led by Prof. Zhu Jingxiang, Dr. Pedram Ghelichi, Lau Hing Ching and Wu Chenghui built lightweight and low-cost pallet box modules as movable community furniture with the assistance of our architecture students. The design consisted of more than 40 blocks of different heights, on which signs were placed, green cushions were laid, and passersby were encouraged to play, lie, sit, or lean on them.
The “Space+” programme provides hands-on public space curation experience to NGO representatives in 3 phrases – each phrase to be implemented in one of the three chosen districts and consists of a 6-month placemaking training lessons for NGOs, a series of interactive events to promote the idea of placemaking, and a two-week public space intervention (Festival) curated by NGO trainees. Through “Space+”, NGOs learn to comprehend and appreciate their neighbourhood with fresh lens; design place-compatible programmes that respond to local needs; and establish a joint-NGO and cross-sectoral network that spin-offs positive collaboration. “Space+” also offers opportunities for our School teachers and students from different disciplines to collaborate, to use their expertise to benefit society and to engage in meaningful and innovative activities that connect us with local NGOs and the community. Through the capacity-building programmes, not only the NGOs but our students gain knowledge on placemaking and urban design – both NGOs and students are empowered through the co-creation process.
Sponsored by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Hong Kong, and led by Very HK, the next phase of the “Space+” Programme will be organised in Kowloon in Summer 2023.
