Beauty in plain sight: why Hong Kong's public housing estates are worth a closer look

Hong Kong public rental housing is ubiquitous, providing homes for more than 40 per cent of the city's 7.5 million residents. They have been built in all 18 of the city’s districts under a systematic effort that started in 1973 with a 10-year housing plan to replace resettlement areas and improve housing policies. Designed to tackle long-standing housing problems, the flats have also caught the eye of one urban researcher for a different reason. Sampson Wong has been studying the beauty of public housing architecture and, in particular, how residents react to and use public spaces. In this episode of #852stories, Wong shares his work examining buildings from the 1970s until the present day, and what they reveal about the city's social relations.