Study note - nano flats in Hong Kong (housing imaginations) and HI analysis tasks

This research note consists of two parts: an Housing Imaginations (HI) study note and an HI exercise

Part 1: Study note - nano flats in Hong Kong (housing imaginations[1])

Article 1: Sito, P. 2017. "Nano flats sell for HK$3m as property prices predicted to soar 20 per cent in 2018" South China Morning Post December 12 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124028/tiny-flats-costing-us383000-and-prices-predicted-rise-another) [visited at April 13, 2018]

1.1. "....... “As home prices have risen at such a rapid pace, there aren’t too many flats being sold below HK$3 million,” said Louis Chan Wing-kit, Centaline’s managing director for residential department";

1.2 "....  two property consultants said the city’s housing market – already ranked as the world’s least-affordable urban centre – can expect to be propelled even higher as the booming stock market, record-low unemployment and high economic growth ensure economic sentiment remains high";

Article 2: Zhen, S. 2017. "Parking space-size flat to be the new norm as affordability eludes Hong Kong's first-time buyers" South China Morning Post October 26 (url address; http://www.scmp.com/business/article/2116992/nano-flats-expected-flood-hong-kong-market-first-time-buyers-continue) [visited at April 13, 2018].

2.1 "At least 2,100 nano flats are expected to be completed between now and 2020 in Hong Kong, to lure more young homebuyers into getting their first foot on the property ladder in the world’s most expensive housing market";

2.2 "The majority will be located in the New Territories, well away from the city’s core business districts";

2.3 "“Most first-time buyers can afford property costing under HK$6 million (US$769,000),” said Henry Mok, regional director of capital markets at JLL. “However, that budget would only allow them to buy a sizeable flat in an old housing estate (over 30-years-old) in urban areas, given prices have reached record highs.” They would much rather buy a new nano flats of their own, he added";

2.4 "Some of the smallest projects in the city are set to provide nano flats ranging in size from 128 sq ft upwards, which is smaller than a standard 134 sq ft Hong Kong car parking space";

Article 3: Ye, J. 2017. "8 Hong Kong nano flats that prove small can still be beautiful" South China Morning Post August 12 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2106471/here-are-8-hong-kong-nano-flats-prove-small-can-still-be) [visited at Apriil 13, 2018].

3.1 "Small flats are here to stay in Hong Kong. Over a quarter of the completed units last year were Class A flats, which measure less than 400 square feet (37 square metres) in size";

3.2 "...just because the stage is small, it doesn’t lack the ability to razzle or dazzle. These tiny flats bring out the best in architects, who use their skills to optimise the use of space";

3.4 "The flat can morph into a bathroom with a Duravit bathtub, a living room with a hammock, a fully equipped kitchen, a walk-in closet, a dining area for five people, a laundry room and more";

3.5 "The 194 sq ft show flat in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Miramall also contains a plethora of transformable elements, with a wine fridge, washing machine and a shoe cabinet that can hold up to 12 pairs of footwear";

3.6 "The 150 sq ft studio flat has a 3.7-metre ceiling and an open-plan living design featuring a loft bedroom, a pantry, a private bathroom and plenty of hidden storage space. The flat also features a bookcase that doubles as a door";

3.7 "Otto Ng Chun-lun, co-founder of LAAB, transformed a tiny flat into a smart home that accommodates a cosy home theatre, a generous kitchen and a dining room";

3.8 "The flat appears to be more spacious than it actually is, thanks to its monochrome colour and an abundance of windows";

3.9 "Sometimes less is more. Glory Tam Chi-kiu, founder of Mister Glory, optimised the sense of space in a 369 sq ft flat in Wan Chai by using materials with only a limited selection of colours - pale-wood laminate floor, pale-wood veneer furniture, smooth white walls and white marble details for a touch of luxury";

Article 4: Cheng, R. 2017. "'Nano' flats on the rise as Hong Kong homes shrink amid high property prices" South China Morning Post April 17 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2088171/nano-flats-rise-hong-kong-homes-shrink-amid-high-property) [visited at April 13, 2018].

4.1 "Hongkongers are feeling the squeeze as new “nano” flats measuring less than 200 sq ft are mushrooming around urban districts such as Wan Chai, Central and Western and Sham Shui Po, according to official figures";

4.2 "The tiny flats are more popular in some districts than others – 10.8 per cent of all homes completed in Wan Chai last year were nano flats, the highest proportion in any district";

4.3 "Ryan Shum, Centaline’s marketing manager for Wan Chai, said nano flats were not a new phenomenon in the district. Some flats completed in the 1980s were also less than 200 sq ft in size, he said";

4.4 "“Wan Chai attracts a lot of young and single executives working in Central and Admiralty who want to live close to their offices,” Shum said";

4.5 "Buggle Lau Kar-fai, chief analyst of Midland Realty, said: “With property prices staying high, buying a small flat with a smaller lump sum is the only way some people can afford to buy property.

4.6 “Another issue is the mortgage. Nano flats often cost less, so buyers without strong financial resources may be able to finance their purchase.”...";

4.7 "Lau warned of risks for buyers of nano flats. “People won’t stay in nano homes forever. Even owner-occupiers will want to move to a bigger flat one day. If the market goes downward, then bigger flats will become more ­affordable. Owners of nano flats may find the demand for such flats can decline.”..";

Article 5: Liu, Y. 2017. "Small doesn't come cheap - Hong Kong's nano flat cost 9 per cent more in square footage" South China Morning Post August 29 (url address: http://www.scmp.com/business/article/2108665/hong-kongs-tiny-flats-9pc-pricier-larger-homes-sq-ft} [visited at April 13, 2018].

5.1 "Hong Kong’s second-hand tiny flats are 9 per cent more expensive than larger ones on a per square foot basis, as record-high home prices and government cooling measures have created a mismatch between supply and demand";

5.2 "The per square foot price of tiny flats is 9.8 per cent higher than that of flats of 400 to 800 sq ft, and 4.1 per cent higher than that of flats larger than 800 sq ft....  This reflects an unintended effect of the government’s cooling measures to rein in the world’s least affordable housing market, which is the distorted demand and supply relation in the secondary market, analysts said";

5.3 "The government raised the stamp duty to 15 per cent for all residential purchases except for first-time buyers in November 2016. In a policy-related tightening, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has rolled out eight rounds of mortgage restrictions since 2014.

5.4 "The ability and motivation of middle-class families to sell their existing homes to buy larger ones declined because of these measures, said Wong Leung-sing, associate director of research at Centaline Property Agency. “The government policies only leave a way out for first-time buyers and buyers of smaller flats.”...";

5.5 "The low interest rate environment also made homeowners less likely to sell their properties due to the lack of profitable investment alternatives, said Lau...";

Part 2: Housing Imaginations - class exercise: try to formulate housing imaginations based on the following themes (and associated points from the articles studied above)

Task 1: Formulate statements of housing imaginations as related to the following themes

(i) Nano flats provide an affordable housing solution to young home-buyers;

(ii) Tiny apartments can be attractive and meet most home function needs reasonably well;

(iii) The demand for nano flats is a consequence of poor government policy and macro-environmental condition;

(iv) Nano flats are not novel phenomenon in Hong Kong and they will become the new normal in the Housing Market in Hong Kong;

(v) Nano flats are expensive and are risky investments for families in Hong Kong;

(vi) Residents of nano flats are expected to experience squeezed spatially, thus the quality of residential life is not satisfactory;

(vi) Nano flats is a compromised flat-purchase decision to enable flat location closer to major workplaces at the expense of home living space.

Task 2: Examine your housing imagination statements in terms of the notions of space, place and home in the Housing Imaginations literature; which stakeholder groups will likely endorse which housing imaginations statements, and why?; be critical and imaginative in your analysis. Use the following housing imaginations statements analysis worksheet for your review:

Housing imaginations statements analysis worksheet

Housing imagination statements with illustrative artefacts	Supporting information and analysis elements
Housing imagination statement 1: Illustrative artefacts: Artefact 1: Artefact 2: Artefact 3:	A. Supporting viewpoints and sources (e.g., newspaper articles) Point 1:   (source: reference xxx) Point 2 (source: reference xxx) B. Likely supported by which stakeholder groups: Stakeholder group 1: Reasons Stakeholder group 2: Reasons C. Space, place and home analysis Space-based analysis ideas (SAI): SAI 1: SAI 2: Place-based analysis ideas (PAI) PAI 1: PAI 2: PAI 3: Home-based analysis ideas (HAI) HA 1: HA 2: HA 3: D: Your own critical and imaginative ideas (OCII) OCII 1: OCII 2: OCII 3:
Housing imagination statement 2: Illustrative artefacts: Artefact 1: Artefact 2: Artefact 3:	A. Supporting viewpoints and sources Point 1:   (source: reference xxx) Point 2 (source: reference xxx) B. Likely supported by which stakeholder groups: Stakeholder group 1: Reasons Stakeholder group 2: Reasons C. Space, place and home analysis Space-based analysis ideas (SAI): SAI 1: SAI 2: Place-based analysis ideas (PAI) PAI 1: PAI 2: PAI 3: Home-based analysis ideas (HAI) HA 1: HA 2: HA 3: D: Your own critical and imaginative ideas (OCII) OCII 1: OCII 2: OCII 3:
Housing imagination statement 3: Illustrative artefacts: Artefact 1: Artefact 2: Artefact 3:	A. Supporting viewpoints and sources Point 1:   (source: reference xxx) Point 2 (source: reference xxx) B. Likely supported by which stakeholder groups: Stakeholder group 1: Reasons Stakeholder group 2: Reasons C. Space, place and home analysis Space-based analysis ideas (SAI): SAI 1: SAI 2: Place-based analysis ideas (PAI) PAI 1: PAI 2: PAI 3: Home-based analysis ideas (HAI) HA 1: HA 2: HA 3: D: Your own critical and imaginative ideas (OCII) OCII 1: OCII 2: OCII 3:
Housing imagination statement 4: Illustrative artefacts: Artefact 1: Artefact 2: Artefact 3:	A. Supporting viewpoints and sources Point 1:   (source: reference xxx) Point 2 (source: reference xxx) B. Likely supported by which stakeholder groups: Stakeholder group 1: Reasons Stakeholder group 2: Reasons C. Space, place and home analysis Space-based analysis ideas (SAI): SAI 1: SAI 2: Place-based analysis ideas (PAI) PAI 1: PAI 2: PAI 3: Home-based analysis ideas (HAI) HAI 1: HAI 2: HAI 3: D: Your own critical and imaginative ideas (OCII) OCII 1: OCII 2: OCII 3:
Overall comments and recommendations on the array of housing imaginations examined by the HI analyst: Comment 1: Comment 2: Comment 3: Recommendation 1: Recommendation 2: Recommendation 3:

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[1] Housing imaginations (hi's) are housing-related viewpoints, mainly shared by a group of people with certain personal profiles and interests, that respond to housing issues/ concerns as well as dynamic situations, solutions, policies and practices. Inevitably, such viewpoints have cultural contents, e.g. perceptions on (i) human nature, (ii) human relation between people, with the society, the external environment, and government, and (iii) problem-solving and planning attitudes.

Homelessness note for Housing Imaginations lecture

Homelessness note for Housing Imaginations lecture


Note 1
An overall theoretical framework on homelessness

Class exercise: use the framework to review the video on Hawaii homeless video

Note 2
Contextual and personal factors on homelessness

Note 3
A cognitive mapping exercise on "newly wed working homelessness in Hong Kong": the task

An updated exposition on the subject of housing imagination(s)

An updated exposition on the subject of housing imagination(s)

Joseph, K.K. Ho

Dated: April 10, 2018

Abstract: Since the launching of the subject of Housing Imaginations in 2013, the writer has accumulated teaching and research knowledge on it and the closely associated subject of Housing Imagination. This article offers an updated account of their status together and named this combined form of study as Housing Imagination(s). This updated account on the teaching and research experience on Housing Imagination(s) as at 2018 let readers in the housing studies and contemporary systems thinking fields to comprehend this novel intellectual venture in these two fields.

Key words: Critical Systems Thinking, Human Geography, Housing Imagination, Housing Imaginations, Housing Imagination(s), Housing Studies, Sociological Imagination.

Introduction

The intellectual theme of housing imaginations was initially conceived in early 2000s, as attested by the British Housing Studies Association Autumn Conference held at Cardiff University, UK on September 4-5, 2001 (Ronald, 2002). This conference explicitly endorsed C. Wright Mills' "aspiration in The Sociological Imagination (1959)[1] to develop "intellectual craftsmanship" across the social sciences" (Ronald, 2002) and encouraged intellectual endeavor by the academic housing community to redress the concern expressed by some academicians, notably Jim Kemeny, at that time on "the lack of theoretical progression in housing studies" (Ronald, 2002). The subject of Housing Imaginations itself was first formulated by the school of Built Environment of Leeds Metropolitan University (now renamed as Lees Beckett University) in 2013 for the BA(Hons) Housing Studies. According to its Module Guide 2013/14, the subject's aim is to: "To provide opportunities for students to understand the many and different ways in which housing may be perceived by different interests. To develop understandings of how people and place are connected. To foster an understanding of the multiple ways in which social space and place may be represented and communicated" (Leeds Metropolitan University, 2013). In 2014, this writer was the teacher of this new subject in Hong Kong. Out of the teaching and research interest on this subject, this writer offered his exposition of the subject via the lens of critical systems thinking to come up with the subject of Housing Imagination (Ho, 2014a). By now, the teacher has accumulated about four years of teaching and study of this subject. It is thus useful to provide in this paper an updated exposition on the subject. As the name of the original subject is called Housing Imaginations while the version postulated by this writer is named Housing Imagination, a combined name is coined for them as Housing Imagination(s).

The basic ideas of Housing Imaginations as a subject

The intellectual roots of Housing Imaginations are three: (i) sociological imagination, (ii) human geography and (iii) housing studies. From these three intellectual roots, a number of basic conceptual ideas constitute the defining characteristics of Housing Imaginations:

I. From sociological imagination (Mills, 1999):

(a) The sociological imaginative leap to relate personal troubles to public issues/ and broader social historical conditions. This, in turn, is considered to useful for enabling us to "make great leaps toward changing the world for the better" (McDardell, 2012);

(b) Other sociological concepts that are often employed, including sociological perspectives, social class, gender, family, social relations, socialization, social conflict, social stratification, and social structure.

II. From human geography

(a) spatial thinking, comprising the notions of scale, space and connections between places; other constituent ideas are time-space, place and home.

(b) artifact, i.e., material aspects of a culture in cultural geography;

III. From housing studies, covering housing topics such as homelessness, housing exclusion, home, housing affordability, home ownership, public housing, gentrification, urbanization and urban renewal.

There are also hybrid concepts arising from cross-fertilization of ideas among sociological imagination, human geography and housing studies, notably geographical imaginations (Gregory, 1994) and housing imaginations (Ho, 2014). It is also clear that the three intellectual roots are themselves open academic platforms that are receptive to ideas from other subjects and disciplines based on diverse research and sociological paradigms. In addition, the subject endorses imaginative thinking, which favors "looking at the big picture, taking initiative, challenging assumptions and coming up with creative solutions to problems" (1dxtra.com, n.d.). All in all, the subject of Housing Imaginations obtains intellectual inspiration from several academic sources.

From the outset, the subject of Housing Imaginations identifies four specific study objectives (Leeds Metropolitan University, 2013):

Objective 1: "Critically evaluate competing perspectives on social housing and home";

Objective 2: "Understand and reflect on the sources of conflict arising from the different and often contested ways of representing housing neighborhoods";

Objective 3: "Interpret different ways in which attachment, emotion and belonging transform space to place":

Objective 4: "Critically assess how the multiple character of a place develops".

The writer has made some words bolded in these four objectives to indicate some additional study themes in Housing Imaginations. These are: (i) critical evaluation and reflection, (ii) conflict, (iii) competing perspectives, (iv) multiple character of a place, (v) attachment, emotion and belonging and (vi) housing neighborhoods. These study themes reveal the relevance of other topics in sociology, human geography and housing studies for the subject of Housing Imaginations. They are: various sociological perspectives, i.e., the functional perspective, the symbolic interactionist perspective and the conflict perspective (notably Feminism and Marxism), Humanistic geography and Critical geography. In particular, in the writer's teaching notes on Housing Imaginations, the works of David Harvey (Wikipedia - David Harvey) and Doreen Massey (Wikipedia -Doreen Massey) have often been referred to.

Via the teaching and research works on the subject from its inception, the writer has produced and posted study materials on the subject on a Facebook group (namely, Housing Imaginations) and a Facebook page (namely, Housing Imagination). The following Housing Imaginations lecture note produced by this writer on the topic of social exclusion (Exhibits 1 to 3) further illustrate how the basic Housing Imaginations ideas and study topics have been employed to examine the notion of social exclusion (and also housing exclusion).

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[1] The edition of The Sociological Imaginations by C.W. Mills shown in the reference of this paper was published in 1999.

Exhibit 1: a mind map on social exclusion

Exhibit 2: using the notion of sociological imaginative leap and sociological perspectives to examine the topic of social exclusion (and housing exclusion)

Exhibit 3: Making use of multiple perspectives to critically evaluate social and housing exclusion

Referring to Exhibits 1 to 3, the lecture note on Housing Imaginations utilized the writer's other skills from his study on mind mapping and the Multi-perspective, Systems-based (MPSB) Research (re: The MPSB Research Facebook page). The next section moves on to the related subject of Housing Imagination.

Research status on Housing Imagination

The writer work on Housing Imagination (Ho, 2014a) did not just present an overall intellectual picture on Housing Imaginations as documented in Leeds Metropolitan University (2013), i.e., the Housing Imaginations module guide. It also postulated a version of Housing Imaginations that is theoretically grounded on critical systems thinking, called Housing Imagination. Since then, a number of intellectual endeavors have been made to conceptually and methodologically enrich the subject of Housing Imagination, as evidenced by the following published articles:

1.      Ho, J.K.K. 2014b. “A Research Note on Home Study in Housing Imagination using Soft Systems Methodology” European Academic Research 2(3) June: 3659-3675.

2.      Ho J.K.K. 2014. “An examination of the place notion for Housing Imagination study based on Systems Thinking” European Academic Research 2(6) September: 7537-7552.

3.      Ho, J.K.K. 2014c. “An Elaboration of a Systems-based Housing Imagination Evaluation Framework for Research and Pedagogical Practices” European Academic Research 2(4) July: 5099-5121.

4.      Ho, J.K.K. 2015. "A review of the notions of quality of life (QOL) and livability based on Ackovian Systems Thinking" American Research Thoughts 1(11) September: 2513-2532.

5.      Ho, J.K.K. 2016a. "An elaboration on the space-place-home (Sph) matrix for exploring housing-related problem-situations" European Academic Research 3(12) March: 13166-13185.

6.      Ho, J.K.K. 2016b. "An examination of the space-place-home (sph) matrix as a conceptual tool for studying housing policy" American Research Thoughts 2(5) March: 3737-3747.

7.      Ho, J.K.K. 2018. "The housing imaginations (hi's) statement analysis worksheet (HISAW): a research note" Joseph KK Ho e-resources blog April 17 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2018/04/the-housing-imaginations-his-statement_17.html).

These critical systems thinking based articles on Housing Imagination all endorse the aspiration of Housing Imaginations to be multi-perspectives. On top of that, these Housing Imagination articles explicitly employ contemporary systems thinking, notably critical systems thinking, which has not been considered in the Housing Imaginations literature. Studying the works of Housing Imagination and Housing Imaginations together as one whole subject, i.e., Housing Imagination(s) presents a stimulating and conceptually rich pathway to investigate housing studies topics. This academic venture constitutes one pathway to address the expressed concern as raised by Ronald (2002) in early 2000s regarding the "the lack of theoretical progression in housing studies".

Concluding remarks

The launching of the subject of Housing Imaginations is a novel intellectual venture in the housing studies field. In the same vein, the critical systems thinking-based Housing Imagination is an original academic endeavor in the fields of housing studies and critical systems thinking. The teaching and research knowledge accumulated over the last four years by this writer has now been presented in this article. It should be able to offer a useful and fresh account of the subject of Housing Imagination(s) to readers and students in the housing studies and systems thinking fields who are interested in it.

References

1dxtra.com. n.d. Insight: Imaginative Thinking, 1dxtra.com (url address: http://www.1dxtra.com/category/imaginative/) [visited at April 10, 2018].

Gregory, D. 1994. Geographical Imaginations, Wiley.

Housing Imagination, Facebook page maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/housing.imagination/).

Housing Imaginations, Facebook group maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1589262871142096/).

Leeds Metropolitan University. 2013. Housing Imaginations - module guide 2013/14: BA (Hons) Housing Studies,  School of Built Environment, Leeds Metropolitan University, U.K.

Ho, J.K.K. 2014a. "An Endeavor to Establish the Subject of Housing Imagination based on Critical Systems Thinking" European Academic Research 2(2) May: 2048-2066.

Ho, J.K.K. 2014b. “A Research Note on Home Study in Housing Imagination using Soft Systems Methodology” European Academic Research 2(3) June: 3659-3675.

Ho J.K.K. 2014c. “An examination of the place notion for Housing Imagination study based on Systems Thinking” European Academic Research 2(6) September: 7537-7552.

Ho, J.K.K. 2014c. “An Elaboration of a Systems-based Housing Imagination Evaluation Framework for Research and Pedagogical Practices” European Academic Research 2(4) July: 5099-5121.

Ho, J.K.K. 2015. "A review of the notions of quality of life (QOL) and livability based on Ackovian Systems Thinking" American Research Thoughts 1(11) September: 2513-2532.

Ho, J.K.K. 2016a. "An elaboration on the space-place-home (Sph) matrix for exploring housing-related problem-situations" European Academic Research 3(12) March: 13166-13185.

Ho, J.K.K. 2016b. "An examination of the space-place-home (sph) matrix as a conceptual tool for studying housing policy" American Research Thoughts 2(5) March: 3737-3747.

Ho, J.K.K. 2018. "The housing imaginations (hi's) statement analysis worksheet (HISAW): a research note" Joseph KK Ho e-resources blog April 17 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2018/04/the-housing-imaginations-his-statement_17.html).

McCardell, C. 2012. "The Sociological Imagination as a Solution" April 29, Bizgovsociii.wordpress.com (url address: https://bizgovsociii.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/the-sociological-imagination-as-a-solution/) [visited at April 10, 2018].

Mills, C.W. 1999. The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press.

Ronald, R. 2002. British Housing Studies Association Autumn Conference. Housing Imaginations: New concepts, new theories, new researchers. HSA Autumn Conference. Cardiff University September 4th and 5th 2001, Housing, Theory and Society 19(2): 112-113, DOI: 10.1080/140360902760385664.

The Multi-perspective, Systems-based Research, Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/multiperspective.systemsbased.research/).

Wikipedia (n.d.) "David Harvey" (url address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harvey).

Wikipedia (n.d.) "Doreen Massey (geographer)" (url address:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doreen_Massey_(geographer)).