Collective memories and attachments of an urban community : the spirit of place of the Shek Tong Tsui Municipal Services Building and its immediate surroundings

Abstract

Urban redevelopment in Hong Kong today often negates the affected community, resulting in a standardized environment and destroying the rich and diverse character and identity of the streetscape. This issue can be illustrated by the case of the demolition and redevelopment of Lee Tung Street, Wah Chai. In 2007, urban redevelopment of the street demolished all the 1950s buildings for which the ground floor storefronts were known as the Wedding Card Street, regardless of the strong expression of collective attachment of local residents. The street was transformed by new buildings including a high-end shopping mall and three residential apartment towers of 28 to 33 storeys. In 2011, Urban Renewal Authority began consideration of place-character and place-identity in the formation of a new “Urban Renewal Strategy”, however, they failed to implement it. Under the pressure from the local community and conservation activists in 2018, the Staunton Street urban redevelopment project was changed to a community place-making scheme; Since then, the Urban Renewal Authority began to adopt the place-making concepts to better recognise and preserve the heritage as well as local characteristics. Therefore, there is a long history of the spirit of place being overlooked in urban redevelopment in Hong Kong. As one of Hong Kong Island’s oldest urban areas, the Shek Tong Tsui neighbourhood on Hong Kong Island which is currently facing urban redevelopment, is the case study site for this dissertation to demonstrate the concept of “spirit of place”. The focus will be the Shek Tong Tsui Municipal Services Building and its immediate surroundings in order to document and capture the spirit of place of this neighbourhood. This dissertation will explore the concept of “spirit of place” from a community point of view to investigate if this approach could be successfully applied as the basis for a socially sustainable community-oriented approach to urban redevelopment.