Space for Play: A History of Hong Kong Playgrounds

Abstract

This article explores playgrounds in Hong Kong over a century and a half of the city’s history. Drawing on media publications, governmental resources, and past and present accounts of the history of the city, we document how the planning, design, and construction of playgrounds in Hong Kong have been fundamentally influenced by political, bureaucratic, and pedagogical practices, as well as by the class, ethnic, and cultural composition of the city. We sketch the broader political shifts in Hong Kong’s evolution under British and more recently Chinese rule bringing specific attention to how these forces have shaped spaces of play in the city. Through this text, we use playgrounds as a lens through which to explore Hong Kong’s past, politics, and urban space, as well as its cultural and socio-political consciousness.