'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989

This thesis focuses on four ‘spaces of consumption’ in the public housing estate in Hong Kong New Towns from 1954 to 1989. These are the hawker pitch, the hawker bazaar, modular and multi-storey markets, and commercial complexes and malls, four spaces that developed alongside the urban development o...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chan, Vivien
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
English
English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/77782/
_version_ 1848801213503504384
author Chan, Vivien
author_facet Chan, Vivien
author_sort Chan, Vivien
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This thesis focuses on four ‘spaces of consumption’ in the public housing estate in Hong Kong New Towns from 1954 to 1989. These are the hawker pitch, the hawker bazaar, modular and multi-storey markets, and commercial complexes and malls, four spaces that developed alongside the urban development of Hong Kong and the New Territories in the post-war period. My core research question is: How did modern spaces of consumption in Hong Kong’s New Town public housing estates develop as a result of government interaction with everyday shopping practices in the post-war decades? Taking a non-linear approach to history, the thesis articulates the development of Hong Kong through the city’s relationship to consumption practices and processes in the housing estate. It argues that spaces of consumption in public housing estates opened opportunities for Hong Kong residents to negotiate notions of colonial modernity as narrated by the colonial government through public housing and the New Towns. It also presents new readings of design and design history in Hong Kong as not only a lens of urban control, but also as everyday navigations of space. The thesis uses a design history approach employing interdisciplinary methodologies with an emphasis on materiality. In doing so, it engages with contemporary discourse of cultural history, calling for new narratives and perspectives of Hong Kong’s colonial history.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T21:03:53Z
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-77782
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
English
English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T21:03:53Z
publishDate 2024
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-777822025-08-18T09:28:36Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/77782/ 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989 Chan, Vivien This thesis focuses on four ‘spaces of consumption’ in the public housing estate in Hong Kong New Towns from 1954 to 1989. These are the hawker pitch, the hawker bazaar, modular and multi-storey markets, and commercial complexes and malls, four spaces that developed alongside the urban development of Hong Kong and the New Territories in the post-war period. My core research question is: How did modern spaces of consumption in Hong Kong’s New Town public housing estates develop as a result of government interaction with everyday shopping practices in the post-war decades? Taking a non-linear approach to history, the thesis articulates the development of Hong Kong through the city’s relationship to consumption practices and processes in the housing estate. It argues that spaces of consumption in public housing estates opened opportunities for Hong Kong residents to negotiate notions of colonial modernity as narrated by the colonial government through public housing and the New Towns. It also presents new readings of design and design history in Hong Kong as not only a lens of urban control, but also as everyday navigations of space. The thesis uses a design history approach employing interdisciplinary methodologies with an emphasis on materiality. In doing so, it engages with contemporary discourse of cultural history, calling for new narratives and perspectives of Hong Kong’s colonial history. 2024-07-20 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/77782/1/Chan%2C%20Vivien%2C%20432507%2C%20Corrections.pdf application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/77782/2/Chan%2C%20Vivien%2C%20432507%2C%20Corrections%2C%20Images%20and%20Appendices.pdf application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/77782/3/Chan%2C%20Vivien%2C%20432507%2C%20corrections%20notes.pdf Chan, Vivien (2024) 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. public housing town planning civic duty Hong Kong
spellingShingle public housing
town planning
civic duty
Hong Kong
Chan, Vivien
'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989
title 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989
title_full 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989
title_fullStr 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989
title_full_unstemmed 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989
title_short 'A colony of shopkeepers': Spaces of consumption in Hong Kong's New Town public housing estates, 1954-1989
title_sort 'a colony of shopkeepers': spaces of consumption in hong kong's new town public housing estates, 1954-1989
topic public housing
town planning
civic duty
Hong Kong
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/77782/