Architecture, space, and protest : the use of built environment during the Anti-ELAB Movement

Abstract

Protest events like those during the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) Movement would not have been possible without the built environment of Hong Kong being the way that it was. Reflected in the various spatial choices for political expressions, the series of protests have demonstrated how protesters interpreted their rights to move through the city and to use the wider built environment. Using content analysis and semi-structured interviews, this research aims to (1) look at how the media framed the Anti-ELAB Movement from primarily a visual perspective, and (2) examine more closely how the built environment of Hong Kong played a role in its protest events. The objective of this research is to gain a better understanding of how the built environment as a whole, as well as individual buildings and architecture, shaped which tactics are possible for protesters and/or the authorities. Findings of the two qualitative approaches have demonstrated an overall marginalizing narrative used by the media when constructing the Anti-ELAB Movement, consistent with the ‘protest paradigm’. This research has also uncovered how everyday places such as the streets, parks, bridges, freeways, shopping centers, MTR stations, and university campuses have all become sites of protest, conflict, and/or violence. The Anti-ELAB Movement not only changed the common narration of Hong Kong, but also reconstructed these mundane spaces.