At home in illegality: place-making practices in Hong Kong’s industrial buildings

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, the residential use of industrial buildings. 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, ‘local’ (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. 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’ 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.

Keywords:

• Place-making
• industrial buildings
• informal settlements
• housing regulation

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. Kevan Wai Yeung Mak for his assistance in data collection and Ms Po Sheung Yu for her comments on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Notes

1 Hong Kong is divided into three regions, including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Territories. The major business districts are centralized on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon.

2 Pseudonyms are used for all participants.

3 In Hong Kong, public housing includes both rental properties and properties that can be bought.

4 The Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) is a key element of the Hong Kong government’s housing policy. HOS flats are sold at a subsidized rate to eligible housing tenants and eligible private housing residents, usually at a price below 30% of the market value of the flat.

5 Although HOS flats are sold at a discounted price compared to private property, the purchasing threshold remains high.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Florence Kayan Lapto

Florence Kayan Lapto is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at The University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include sex work, informal settlement, inmate culture, and drugs.

Man Wa Chan

Man Wa Chan received her bachelor’s degree in Government and Public Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and her master’s degree in Criminology from The University of Hong Kong. She has worked as a research assistant in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong.

Wing Sze Lau

Wing Sze Lau received her bachelor’s degree of Arts and master’s degree in Criminology from The University of Hong Kong. She works at a multinational financial institution where she has investigated financial crimes in Hong Kong.

Alan Souza

Alan Souza is a veteran of the public security industry. He has worked in various law enforcement departments in Hong Kong for more than a decade. He received his bachelor’s degree in Law Enforcement and Security Management from the Open University of Hong Kong (the current Hong Kong Metropolitan University) and his master’s degree in Criminology from The University of Hong Kong.

Julie Ham

Julie Ham is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Brock University. Her research centres knowledge production with migrant and minority communities and the criminology of mobility (https://www.mmmk.ca/).