https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/02673037.2024.2355197<\/a><\/p>\n\nAbstract<\/p>\n\n
Hong Kong offers a unique laboratory for housing studies given its notoriety for housing inequalities. This study utilized participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photovoice to explore place-making practices in one type of illegalized housing, the residential use of industrial buildings<\/p>\n\n
In contrast to studies of housing inequalities that have typically focused on marginalized communities, we found that the use of industrial buildings was adopted by educated, \u2018local\u2019 (i.e. ethnically Chinese) Hong Kongers who aspired towards socio-economic mobility. Place-making required spatial adaptations to sub-standard living environments and acclimation to routine, ongoing fears of detection from law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n
We argue that illegality is not necessarily an impediment to place-making, but may serve to mark the temporariness of residential spaces in industrial buildings, a temporariness that accommodates residents\u2019 aspirational socio-economic trajectories more effectively than formal housing markets. In our study, the meaning of a place was not necessarily tied to rootedness or permanence, but rather a liminal temporality enforced by illegality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Author: Florence Kayan Lapto, Man Wa Chan, Wing Sze Lau, Alan Souza & Julie Ham Source: Housing Studies Link: https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/02673037.2024.2355197<\/a> Abstract Hong Kong offers a unique laboratory for housing studies given its notoriety for housing inequalities. This study utilized participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and photovoice to explore place-making practices in one type of illegalized housing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145170531,"featured_media":6534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[776957933],"tags":[776958076,776958013,776958067],"class_list":["post-7455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category--en","tag-newsroom","tag-placemaking","tag-urban-space"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pai6UY-1Wf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7579,"url":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/2026\/01\/19\/article-pseudo-landed-water-people-experiences-of-informality-in-tai-o-village-hong-kong\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":0},"title":"[Article] Pseudo-landed water people: Experiences of informality in Tai O village, Hong Kong","author":"\u624b\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e","date":"19\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Author: Daniel Keith Elkin, Xiaolu Wang, Chi-Yuen Leung, Wai Yeung Yan, Markus Wernli, Gerhard Bruyns, Emily Cheung Tsz Ching Source: Political Geography Link: https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0962629825000873 Abstract This article interrogates the structural processes and neocolonial agendas that perpetuate informality in Tai O village, Hong Kong which is famous for its traditional fishing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hong Kong Studies Newsroom"","block_context":{"text":"Hong Kong Studies Newsroom","link":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/category\/%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e5%ad%b8%e8%a1%93%e6%83%85%e5%a0%b1%e5%ae%a4-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7229,"url":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/2025\/10\/14\/article-density-and-precarious-housing-overcrowding-sensorial-urbanism-and-intervention-in-hong-kong\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":1},"title":"[Article] Density and Precarious Housing: Overcrowding, Sensorial Urbanism, and Intervention in Hong Kong","author":"\u624b\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e","date":"14\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Author: Hung-Ying Chen &Colin McFarlane Source: Housing Studies Link: https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/02673037.2023.2280033 Abstract This paper offers an approach to understanding high-density living in precarious housing. Developing a conception of housing density based on \u2018density expressions\u2019 and \u2018density modalities\u2019, we argue for a focus on how domestic density is experienced and intervened in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hong Kong Studies Newsroom"","block_context":{"text":"Hong Kong Studies Newsroom","link":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/category\/%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e5%ad%b8%e8%a1%93%e6%83%85%e5%a0%b1%e5%ae%a4-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7281,"url":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/2025\/10\/21\/article-housing-colonialism-regulating-low-density-communities-in-1950s-hong-kong\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":2},"title":"[Article] Housing colonialism: Regulating low density communities in 1950s Hong Kong","author":"\u624b\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e","date":"21\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Author: Junwei Li Source: Journal of Historical Geography Link: https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0305748825000143 Abstract Hong Kong is famous for its high-density housing development. The European-centric planning during the pre-war period significantly shaped the spatial hierarchy. Notably, these low-density communities remain as exceptions to high-density built environment within the urban cores of Kowloon. New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hong Kong Studies Newsroom"","block_context":{"text":"Hong Kong Studies Newsroom","link":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/category\/%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e5%ad%b8%e8%a1%93%e6%83%85%e5%a0%b1%e5%ae%a4-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7438,"url":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/2025\/12\/19\/modular-market-everyday-experience-and-the-movement-of-diversified-historiographies-an-interview-with-vivien-chan\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":3},"title":"Modular Market, Everyday Experience, and the Movement of Diversified Historiographies\u2014An Interview with Vivien Chan","author":"\u624b\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e","date":"19\/12\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Editor\u2019s Note: The recent \u201cwalking craze\u201d has brought Hong Kong\u2019s public housing estates into the local\u2014and even international\u2014spotlight in a new way, sparking a wave of aesthetic, nostalgic, and historical rediscovery through tours and cultural production. Yet the space most intimately tied to the everyday lives of public estate residents\u2014the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notebook"","block_context":{"text":"Notebook","link":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/category\/notebook-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/webpost-profile.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/webpost-profile.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/webpost-profile.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/webpost-profile.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/webpost-profile.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7275,"url":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/2025\/10\/20\/publication-hong-kong-public-housing-an-architectural-and-policy-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":4},"title":"[Publication] Hong Kong Public Housing: An Architectural and Policy History","author":"\u624b\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e","date":"20\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Author: Miles Glendinning Publisher: Routledge Link: https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Hong-Kong-Public-Housing-An-Architectural-and-Policy-History\/Glendinning\/p\/book\/9781138680227 Abstract Hong Kong Public Housing provides the first comprehensive history of one of the most dramatic episodes in the global history of the modern built environment: the vast public housing programme sponsored by successive Hong Kong governments from the 1950s, in a quest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hong Kong Studies Newsroom"","block_context":{"text":"Hong Kong Studies Newsroom","link":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/category\/%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e5%ad%b8%e8%a1%93%e6%83%85%e5%a0%b1%e5%ae%a4-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/publication.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/publication.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/publication.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/publication.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/publication.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7543,"url":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/2026\/01\/14\/article-the-mechanism-of-street-markets-fostering-supportive-communities-in-old-urban-districts-a-case-study-of-sham-shui-po-hong-kong\/","url_meta":{"origin":7455,"position":5},"title":"[Article] The Mechanism of Street Markets Fostering Supportive Communities in Old Urban Districts: A Case Study of Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong","author":"\u624b\u6c11\u51fa\u7248\u793e","date":"14\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Author: Yueyi Tan, Jusheng Song, Lei Yu, Yunxi Bai, Jianfeng Zhang, Man-Ha (Sylvia) Chan and Jeroen van Ameijde Source: Land Link: https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-445X\/13\/3\/289 Abstract In old urban districts with tenement buildings, street markets address the working class\u2019s social and economic needs. They are pivotal in fostering supportive communities, in particular for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hong Kong Studies Newsroom"","block_context":{"text":"Hong Kong Studies Newsroom","link":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/category\/%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e5%ad%b8%e8%a1%93%e6%83%85%e5%a0%b1%e5%ae%a4-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/typesetter.hk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/article.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145170531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7456,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7455\/revisions\/7456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesetter.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}