Hong Kong’s Not-So-Public Public Spaces: Privately Owned Public Spaces

In 2008, it was revealed that the security guards of Times Square in Causeway Bay turned away buskers serenading the shoppers in the piazza, and the developer of Metro Harbour View, a private housing estate in Tai Kok Tsui, restricted public access to the public space. The controversies have drawn public attention to privately owned public spaces (POPS). POPs refer to venues provided and managed by private sectors, but are supposed to be open to the public. Incentives are given by the government to developers to provide POPS in their residential projects in exchange for gross floor area (GFA) concessions. <a href="https://medium.com/@u3538313/citys-not-so-public-public-spaces-privately-owned-public-spaces-3832cea0891">Visit Now</a>