Is Tin Shui Wai still a 'city of sadness'? : understanding the community from the perspective of Tin Shui Wai residents

Abstract

Tin Shui Wai (TSW) has always been labelled as a ‘City of Sadness’. This research adopts a rather optimistic perspective to look at TSW. This paper examines: i) the promotion of social values from public spaces in TSW; ii) the creation of sense of community from the use of public spaces in TSW; iii) the construction of community satisfaction from every day lives of TSW residents. The theories of residential satisfaction, sense of community and concept of space will be applied as the major framework for the discussion. In terms of the methodology, twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with TSW residents for exploring their daily lives and perceptions towards ‘City of Sadness’. Moreover, two key informants’ interviews were conducted with a police officers and a former community officer to understand the crime situation and social conditions of TSW. Furthermore, two focus groups were conducted with residents who have lived in TSW since 2000 and 2015 respectively. This helps the researcher to understand the impacts brought by the social changes. In addition, on-site observation was conducted to understand the social interaction pattern and every day lives of TSW residents. Most of all, the researcher, as a TSW resident, would also make use of his personal encounters to generate insightful data. The researcher found that the public spaces in TSW could promote cultural diversity which in turn shape a harmonious community. Moreover, sense of community could also be developed through the use of public spaces. In general, TSW residents have developed a high level of community satisfaction to TSW. The overall findings seem to debunk the label of ‘City of Sadness’.