30+ practitioners from:
Family foundations |Nonprofits |Businesses |Think tanks |Built environment professionals
explored the next frontier of place-based innovation together – shifting from promoting “software” interventions
to examining the underlying urban development system, laying the groundwork for community ownership.
SHARED DISCUSSION CONTEXT: WHAT IS A THRIVING NEIGHBOURHOOD?
Our participants have identified a set of shared characteristics:
- People feel included and welcomed
- There are space(s) to connect people and resources
- There are space(s) to connect people and resources
- There is a culture of care and mutual support
- The built environment is accessible and affordable
WHAT ARE THE ENABLING CONDITIONS FOR NEIGHBOURHOODS TO THRIVE?
Using three fast-evolving neighbourhoods in Hong Kong as the backbone of our discussion:
- Unlocking local assets: while neighbourhoods are undergoing urban renewal, existing natural and cultural landscapes (e.g. tenement houses, wetlands) are underlying neighbourhood assets that should be leveraged to bring new opportunities, such as ecotourism and communal third spaces
- Fostering old-new integration: with 1.5 million residents expected to move into the Northern Metropolis, efforts are needed to foster connections and bonding between the new arrivals and existing groups
- Investing in people: we shall empower stakeholders to build trusting partnerships as contributors transforming one-off pilots into long-term initiatives that are for and by the community
- Accessibility in resources and spaces: we shall create casual opportunities for target engagement groups (e.g. young families) that lower their participation threshold and mental barriers
Food for thoughts
How might we preserve and enhance the soul and character of the place? How would you describe the lifestyle being practiced by current and future residents who live, work and play there?
As we engage different stakeholder groups throughout the development cycle, how might we balance the “insider” (day-to-day) and “outsider” (casual visitors, daytrippers) standpoints to ensure equitable development?
FROM PROGRAMME TO PLATFORM: MULTIPLYING THE IMPACT OF ENABLING CONDITIONS
When creating a platform to create longer term impact, participants prioritised the following:
- Community spaces and shared assets
- Community-led innovation and micro-pilots
- Community insight, learning and accountability
- Strong local networks and mutual support to build local leadership and capability
Inspiration behind: case studies shared by participants
- Hiking with Children: a family hiking initiative to promote bonding time within families while cultivating a sense of team spirit and mutual support amongst participants
- Project House @ Chun On Pawn: transforming ground-level vacant shops into pop-up communal spaces – with the latest iteration taking place within a former pawn shop, fostering communal exchanges
- Community Foundation: a place-based impact vehicle in the US that enables the accumulation and deployment of capital that address a wide variety of needs in the locality, while engaging in community leadership and capacity building activities as catalysts to solve local community needs
THE PATHWAY FORWARD
- Promote shared ownership between organisations and community: identify concrete step(s) to transform your organisation’s community engagement work from transactional intervention towards shared stewardship and ownership
- Community Foundation design: SVhk team will work with partners and community members to design a Community Foundation model that is fit for Hong Kong’s social and governance contexts, laying the groundwork for participatory urban development
- Personal reflection: what undertapped assets and network exist in your neighbourhood and how might you contribute personally to the network?