Across the city, it is easy to spot vacant sites left idle. Constrained by political and administrative boundaries, these hidden gems remained underutilized, waiting for their opportunity to shine and be transformed into popular, well-loved public spaces that generate social benefits for all.

In view of the growing call for community-led initiatives, urban development should become more flexible, and free from the current, rigid technical planning process. Community members should be empowered with a voice that impacts real action plans. We believe city planning should be inclusive, people-oriented and sustainable.

With the aim to foster public initiatives in Hong Kong, Very Hong Kong is undertaking an independent study of a possible new policy framework, CollaborateHK, to encourage bottom-up and community-led initiatives. CollaborateHK will be a platform for all to share their aspirations, as well as to facilitate potential cross-sector collaboration between the community, government, and business sectors.

Frequently adopted in urban researches, a “Sandbox” is an effective way to test innovative ideas without impacting existing regulatory frameworks. From March 23 to March 24, 2018, the CollaborateHK Sandbox Charrette will bring together participants from NGOs, professional institutes and the general public to explore feasible community happenings for 8 selected vacant sites. VeryHK also invites an advisory panel to evaluate the feasibility of team proposals and the CollaborateHK framework. 

Feel free to contact us for registraion or more details: joinus@veryhk.org . We hope to see you all at the Charrette!