Community participation in adaptive reuse projects in Hong Kong : a case study analysis of Lui Seng Chun and Green Hub

Abstract

Heritage places are the irreplaceable precious common property of society and their respective communities should be involved in deciding whether to retain such heritage assets and how to best conserve them. In recent years, there have been several disputes between the Government and the general public towards heritage management, such as the unsuccessful demonstrations against the demolition of Lee Tung Street or the Star Ferry Pier. In light of these disputes and the increased awareness resulting from them, the HKSAR Government decided to launch its ‘Revitalising Historic Building Through Partnership Scheme’ to execute the heritage conservation policy announced by the Former Chief Executive Mr. Donald Tsang in his 2007-08 policy address. This Scheme carries out heritage revitalization projects in cooperation with non-profitmaking organisations, where the projects must consider the developmental needs of the public interest and actively engage with stakeholders and the general public. The importance and advantages of public participation have been gradually acknowledged by the Government. This has enabled powerholders to understand the utmost needs and unspoken wants of the people and to facilitate decision-making that can achieve maximum social benefits. Community participation, a more specific and intentional form of public participation, is a somewhat less explored topic in Hong Kong. Unlike general public participation, community participation has a targeted group, which considers the community most directly related to the heritage place, within the core groups of stakeholders. This paper studies the level of community participation involved with two selected Revitalisation Scheme projects - Lui Seng Chun from Batch 1 of the Historic Buildings and Old Tai Po Police Station from Batch 2 of the Historic Buildings. It is hoped that through studying the revitalization projects from different batches, the different handling methods of community participation can be learnt. Ultimately, this paper explores any possible room for improvement with regards to community participation within the Revitalisation Scheme, such that community participants could have an enhanced channel to contribute to the revitalization of their neighbourhood.