Situating a creative district in the community of poverty in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Abstract

Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, is known for being a working-class neighbourhood and a showcase of the alarming problem of inequality in this wealthy city. This is the reason why it raised concerns over gentrification and the media portrayed images of arts and creativity on areas such as Tai Nan Street when they suddenly became attractive sites to visit. Indeed, these discussions have inspired this study. Nonetheless, the main focus of this study is not to analyze the neighbourhood change in Tai Nan Street through the perspective of gentrification. Instead, it asks the question of how a creative district is situated in, and at the same time, shaping the changes in a poor community. “Situating a creative district in the community of poverty” is to understand the contrasting images, views, and actions involved in neighbourhood change; it is also about how the new and the old can co-exist. The meanings of a place can determine people’s actions, and hence physical changes in the place. This study tries to understand neighbourhood change through a process involving multiple actors in place-making. Hence, it focuses on how different people give meanings to the place and tries to steer the direction of neighbourhood change according to their different perceived meanings of the place. Interviews provided detailed information on the complexity of views to the neighbourhood change and actions in response, between and also within different types of actors. Social media analysis demonstrated disparity in the representation of the place on Instagram by the use of hashtags by “business accounts” and “non-business accounts”. The role of social media is highlighted as it facilitated the co-creation of meanings of the place—the process in which users were involved in receiving and reinforcing the image of the place as a hipster consumption space. However, some shop owners and art/cultural workers attempted to fulfil the art and creative image of the place and strengthen ties with the local community, as a response to the simplistic labels imposed on the place and the concerns over gentrification. Findings suggested that neighbourhood change can involve a large variety of actors who are trying to steer the direction of neighbourhood change according to their different perceived meanings of the place. To judge whether Tai Nan Street is facing significant gentrification, which types of gentrification it is going through, and who should be blamed are neither the scope of this study. While it is accepted that potential gentrification has been identified by the general public and various actors in the community, it is suggested studies on neighbourhood change should focus on exploring alternative models of neighbourhood upgrading or (re)development without jeopardizing the local community. By emphasizing the complexity of the community and agency of people, this study argues that understanding neighbourhood change as a dynamic, non-linear process that is continuously (re)negotiated can better facilitate the exploration of other possibilities. It is argued that the new and the old can co-exist symbiotically only if the multi-layered meanings of the place and possibilities and agency of the local community are both recognized and realized.