Tai Po has always been a unique neighbourhood in Hong Kong, with natural assets, cultural heritage, and a combination of urban fabric new and old, together with an abundance of public housing estates. It is a prototype of how nature and city can coexist in harmony.

Lam Tsuen River, which runs through the history and identity of Tai Po, is often forgotten. The identity of the river and its quality to the urban fabric of Hong Kong has often been overlooked.

“Neighbourhood Commons @ Tai Po” presents a unique opportunity to rethink a human-centric urban design strategy for a neighbourhood with a focus on the river: its experience, its identity, and how it can enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. In the process of place-making, our objective is to co-create a common vision towards Lam Tsuen River that is informed by a repository of insights and data about the neighbourhood, by the neighbours, for the neighbours.

From mid 2024 to early 2025, together with university students and youths in Tai Po, we began building knowledge about Lam Tsuen River through desktop research, on-site observations and social listening. Informed by desktop research and observation, the exploration is conducted under three themes: urban and nature, sustainability and resilience, and cultural heritage.

Quantitative data is collected through multiple street polling sessions and an online survey designed to understand the current usage and perception towards the river. While numerative data informs us on general themes and patterns, qualitative insights through interviews and focus groups provide an in-depth understanding of their experience and aspirations of the river. 

Co-creating possibilities with youth in Tai Po

With quantitative data and qualitative insights in hand, key challenges and opportunities were identified. They open various brainstorming directions for youth, community stakeholders and experts to ideate creative solutions collectively through workshops and dialogues.

Building on the innovative ideas, we co-created prototypes with youths to visualise different proposals for testing. The prototypes were then further developed into a comprehensive urban design strategy that is informed by community insights, and brought back to the public and experts for validation and prioritisation, formulating a collective urban design vision, objectives, strategies and suggestive roadmap for the next steps.

This project is the very first step of a long-term process of collaboration between multiple parties. Based on a cross-displinary approach, it starts to formulate how to identify issues within the urban environment and neighbourhood from a bottom-up process. Our vision requires the effort of multiple parties, public and private, institutions and citizens, to drive these ideas forward and to create a collective vision.