Smart Cultural Precinct @ Central

Project: Smart Cultural Precinct @ Central - Community Engagement

Year: 2019

Client: Central and Western District Council

Location: Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

The Smart Cultural Precinct (SCP) in Central is a comprehensive, bottom-up, conservation place-making initiative involving multi-sectoral participation from the community, academia, public and private sectors to create a cultural precinct in the heart of the historic Central District. The Cultural Triangle formed by the three adaptive reuse building(s) in Central, namely the Former Police Married Quarters (PMQ), the Former Central Police Station Compound (Tai Kwun), the Central Market (CM) including area within was originally coined in 2009 when we worked on the initial adaptive resume concept of PMQ. The importance of these three key building(s) is well recognized with the adaptive reuse of PMQ, successfully completed in 2014, and Tai Kwun opened recently in 2018, with the revitalization of CM currently underway. The Cultural Triangle forms the core of the cultural precinct. The SCP will not only help link the three building(s) and the area in between physically, but also digitally with a vision to create a pedestrian-friendly, walkable cultural precinct in Central. SCP will help improve the quality of life of both residents and visitors as well as enhance the city image and identity by showcasing the rich local history and cultural heritage of Central.

UDP International and the Institute for Sustainable Urbanisation (ISU) worked together with YWCA with funding support from the Central and Western District Council to host a series of events and activities in 2019 to educate and raise awareness of SCP and the cultural heritage in Central among the local community. The SCP Kick-off Event, Walk and Workshop, Walk and Building Tours, Community and Place Making Event, and Arts and Crafts Workshop as well as the Public Forum on Walkable Cities were very successful in engaging the grass roots local community and getting positive feedback regarding the cultural precinct in Central the Smart Cultural Precinct @ Central, Hong Kong.

*In association with YWCA