Garden Cities for the Poor Whites: Economic Liberalism, Racial Segregation and the Contradictions of Colonial Urban Development

Abstract

This paper explores the rise and fall of the garden city movement in colonial Hong Kong between the mid 1910s and late 1930s, a period that witnessed multiple land booms along with escalating property speculation. More specifically, the paper focuses on two suburban housing schemes initiated by local business syndicates, who sought to provide affordable housing for the local Portuguese residents -- the so-called “poor whites”-- who found themselves increasingly unable to afford the rising housing rent in the colony. While both proposed settlements invoked the ideals of the garden city conceived by Ebenezer Howard, in particular the emphasis on community management, self-help and provision of a healthy and productive environment, they were aimed at protecting the interest of a particular segment of the European population. The proposals were supported by a number of colonial administrators, who believed that such protectionist measures based on segregation of race would help advance “social justice” and strengthen governance in the colonies. However, they were challenged by other social commentators, who argued that such schemes violated the economic principles that underlay colonial capitalism and the need to uphold a competitive housing market. Meanwhile, the two projects sparked new imaginaries amongst the wider citizenry, including many local Chinese, who began to dream of living in their own segregated garden cities free from housing speculation. By examining the evolving forms and ascriptions of the two projects as well as the specific imageries and references deployed for their promotion and legitimation, this paper illustrates the intrinsic connections between these initiatives with the garden city movements and emerging planning discourses elsewhere. It will also elucidates the growing contradictions of colonial urban development amidst ongoing economic expansion, simmering social discontent and rising nationalistic sentiments in the early 20th century.