Public Housing and Family Life in East Asia: Housing History and Social Change in Hong Kong,1953-1990

Abstract

This article attempts to contribute to an emerging literature on the link between housing history and society. For Hong Kong, it has always been argued that much of its socioeconomic successes in the past five decades have been heavily attributed to orchestrated public housing policy since 1953. Although this argument is popular, micro evidence to support this thesis is scant. Most studies focus mainly on describing the macro effects of housing policy with little link to the actual household experiences of public housing tenants. The purpose of this article is to make explicit that link through various individual housing trajectories.