Housing, planning and political will in colonial Hong Kong, 1946-1983

Abstract

This thesis argues that an exercise of political will by the government was decisive

to the course of public housing in colonial Hong Kong. Historians have seldom

looked deeply into the local and international politics leading to the development of

public housing. Not until recently did scholars start to challenge seriously the wellknown

Shek Kip Mei fire of Christmas 1953 as the origin of public housing. This

thesis contextualises housing history within broader political issues and challenges

various historical events as watersheds in Hong Kong history, such as the Shek Kip

Mei fire and the 1967 riots. The China factor greatly influenced both colonial rule

and housing policies in Hong Kong by politicising the problems of refugees,

squatters and indigenous people in the colony, as well as by triggering the British to

link Hong Kong’s domestic policies with imperial concerns amidst the global wave

of decolonisation. This thesis also shows how colonialism and laissez-faire

capitalism interacted to make room for the real estate business by ensuring that

public and private housing ran parallel. The act of political will by the government

to choose between different housing solutions obscured the notion of public

housing as social welfare over time. Offering insight into colonialism in Hong

Kong, this thesis argues that the policy making of public housing was extremely

complex because of imperial and colonial concerns, laissez-faire capitalism and the

local people’s interest.