Planning for quality public life in public space of consumption : a study of Hong Kong

Abstract

The lively and enjoyable public spaces are of critical position to planning a great city (Burden, 2014). Public space is widely believed valuable for sustainable urban life due to its provision of physical environment for social interaction and possibly natural diversity. Throughout history, cities as production of human activities provide provision of spaces for public life, such as social communication and commercial activities (Unwin, 2000). Public space is also an important part of what defines the city. At early 1960s, academics in the West criticized that urban planning was abstract and humanly distant (Gehl & Svarre, 2013). Citizen groups fought for urban redevelopment plans in connection with the historical background such as the youth revolution, protests against nuclear power plants or anti-war protests. The activities all took place in public spaces and as now at political dimension public space have it very important position (Gehl & Svarre, 2013).

Within the context of global competition, nowadays the provision of public spaces is believed as the enhancement of infrastructure asset for city marketing and promoting the population influx which keep the livability of the city (Gehl & Gemzoe, 2000). However, it’s criticized by scholars that public space has been aided with too much commercial interests and thus public sphere would be impoverished (Degen, 2008). Sequently, it is always critical to keep the public life flourishing. In spite of the commodification of contemporary urban public space, its ever-presented nature of public decided it would be always “in the process of being shaped, unshaped and challenged by the spatial practices of various groups and individuals whose identities and actions undermine the homogeneity of contemporary cities” (MacLeod, 2012; McCann, 1999).

At present, the public open space in Hong Kong cannot secure the interest of public and in that case it is not successful to cater public everyday life. The social interaction is significantly affected by the physical arrangement as well as the way such public spaces cater for the specific characteristic of public life in Hong Kong. In this dissertation study, the main focus would be how does the public space of consumption interact with public social life and how could the institutional framework influence the whole process by its power. In context of Hong Kong, consumer culture has strongly influenced urban form by multiple scales of commercial developments, and the public life style has also been shaped by the physical setting and shopping habits. The interaction between human and material can be negotiated and guided by institutional power. By considering power, urban planning practitioners have the responsibility to provide recommendations for public space developments.

The dissertation study will develop the research scope to a more specific scope – public open space of consumption in private development, i.e. shopping centers in Hong Kong. In order to carry out the study of public life, key concepts and issues will be examined through literature review. Institutional background of public open space of consumption in Hong Kong will be reviewed for a better understanding of the research. Both Hong Kong and overseas best practices will be studied to find out problems and reference experience in design and managing public open space of consumption. In the end, possible recommendations for planning public open space will be proposed to achieve quality public life.