Magic Lanes - Urban Renewal Fund

Objective	“Magic Lanes” will set up a placemaking centre and organize different kinds of community events in Sai Ying Pun. It aims at enriching the experience of the residents in making use of the public space and encouraging the participation of the public in the process of the placemaking for their community. The project will incorporate the ideas of the public to turn Sheung Fung Lane into a community-friendly public space and set up the platform with the community members for the future management of the place.
Activities	Supported by the Urban Renewal Fund, and in collaboration with the Conservancy Association Centre for Heritage (CACHe), Caritas Mok Cheung Sui Kun Community Centre has commenced the Magic Lanes Project since June 2017, and opened the Magic Lanes Studio on Sheung Fung Lane since March 2018. The Studio becomes a gather point for local residents, allowing room for them to discover the place’s assets, and to dream the shared future. This will strengthen the collective innovation and facilitate the bottom-up community design on spatial utilisation. Mr. Stephen Chan, BBS, JP, Central and Western District Councillor, remarked in the opening ceremony of the Magic Lanes Studio, “Government Departments and the District Council are restrained from providing service and facility to private land lots, where this project fills the policy gap and channels public resources to communal space owned by private bodies, uplifting the community quality of life.” The Project team has already run workshops, exhibitions, traditional flower signboard making workshop, and cultural documentation. A web-based Sai Ying Pun community docent map has already been created as well. Together with the usual opening of the Studio, the team has engaged a majority of the users of the space and conducted a public opinion survey on the design direction. Five themes have been consolidated: 1. Social inclusion 2. Bio-diversity 3. Heritage and culture 4. Intergenerational 5. Play and fun A resident group “Friends of Sheung Fung Lane” has already been organised, the project team has learnt much from the group members on their expectation and factors facilitating their participation. They have also initiated gardening activities and exerted explicit impact to the neighbourhood.

Objective

“Magic Lanes” will set up a placemaking centre and organize different kinds of community events in Sai Ying Pun. It aims at enriching the experience of the residents in making use of the public space and encouraging the participation of the public in the process of the placemaking for their community. The project will incorporate the ideas of the public to turn Sheung Fung Lane into a community-friendly public space and set up the platform with the community members for the future management of the place.

Activities

Supported by the Urban Renewal Fund, and in collaboration with the Conservancy Association Centre for Heritage (CACHe), Caritas Mok Cheung Sui Kun Community Centre has commenced the Magic Lanes Project since June 2017, and opened the Magic Lanes Studio on Sheung Fung Lane since March 2018. The Studio becomes a gather point for local residents, allowing room for them to discover the place’s assets, and to dream the shared future. This will strengthen the collective innovation and facilitate the bottom-up community design on spatial utilisation.

Mr. Stephen Chan, BBS, JP, Central and Western District Councillor, remarked in the opening ceremony of the Magic Lanes Studio, “Government Departments and the District Council are restrained from providing service and facility to private land lots, where this project fills the policy gap and channels public resources to communal space owned by private bodies, uplifting the community quality of life.”

The Project team has already run workshops, exhibitions, traditional flower signboard making workshop, and cultural documentation. A web-based Sai Ying Pun community docent map has already been created as well. Together with the usual opening of the Studio, the team has engaged a majority of the users of the space and conducted a public opinion survey on the design direction. Five themes have been consolidated:

1. Social inclusion
2. Bio-diversity
3. Heritage and culture
4. Intergenerational
5. Play and fun

A resident group “Friends of Sheung Fung Lane” has already been organised, the project team has learnt much from the group members on their expectation and factors facilitating their participation. They have also initiated gardening activities and exerted explicit impact to the neighbourhood.