By Us, For Us: Hong Kong Co-operatives, Future-proof Narratives
There was a period in Hong Kong when the public had a stake in the formation of our urban settlement. This extended from the apartment to the yard, street front, block, and collective neighborhood. Today, the remnants of this experiment, the CBS Estates, are on the verge of disappearance despite being increasingly relevant as housing becomes increasingly inaccessible and individualized around the world. In the first edition of nt, a public forum between interdisciplinary local and international experts, a brief outline was established for how and where a ‘third model’ of housing may be reintroduced through a second forum on Governance, and a third forum proposing a series of proto-projects for the piloting of an initiative in the city. These forums will continue the methodology building upon an Atlas and Federative Drawing as discursive tools upon which an action plan will be collectively drafted for the city.
There was a period in Hong Kong when the public had a stake in the formation of our urban settlement. This extended from the apartment to the yard, street front, block, and collective neighborhood. Today, the remnants of this experiment, the CBS Estates, are on the verge of disappearance despite being increasingly relevant as housing becomes increasingly inaccessible and individualized around the world. In the first edition of nt, a public forum between interdisciplinary local and international experts, a brief outline was established for how and where a ‘third model’ of housing may be reintroduced through a second forum on Governance, and a third forum proposing a series of proto-projects for the piloting of an initiative in the city. These forums will continue the methodology building upon an Atlas and Federative Drawing as discursive tools upon which an action plan will be collectively drafted for the city.
- 2024
- Grantee: Architecture Land Initiative (ALIN)
Guillaume Othenin-Girard and Kent Mundle are both members of the HKU Faculty of Architecture as well as the co-operative society, Architecture Land Initiative (ALIN). ALIN initiates and carries out political action in the form of projects on landscape, public space, and architecture. Currently based between Switzerland and Hong Kong, our members engage in diverse activities across research and design. Acknowledging the urgency of planetary ecological and political crises, we seek to navigate conflicts and contradictions with care towards life. We strive to act towards non-exploitive economies and ecologies by exploring, imagining and supporting alternative forms of coexistence. As a co-operative, ALIN is a common-benefit platform that operates as a flexible infrastructure, consisting of a legal framework, a communication structure for collective work, a series of studios, as well as a set of tools and expertise that we grow collectively.