Abstract

As metropolitan areas have grown, incidental issues have emerged as the result of crowded high-quality public spaces, working class city dwellers have continued to complain that most public spaces do not fit their daily needs and preferences. Hong Kong is a city famous for its nightlife. In fact, it is not only tourist spots and traditionally busy areas that attract crowds; new towns that house large numbers of working class people and new immigrants with low standards of living are experiencing increased social activity as well. This paper presents a case study of Tin Shui Wai, one of the largest new towns in Hong Kong, exploring how working class people use public spaces. The paper also identifies and discusses the issues related to the quality of public environments at night to generate directions and insights for policymakers and designers whose goal is to improve social and physical public spaces for ordinary people.