Hong Kong has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and is one of the most prosperous societies , but much of the population lives in low quality, high-density housing. Through qualitative interviews with long-term residents of public housing, this book explores residents' experience of high-density space. It traces the development of Hong Kong housing forms and analyses how people's expectations ofdomestic space have been affected by social mobility and shifting cultural values of space, lifestyle, and design. The accompanying award-winning documentary film, A Thousand Pieces of Gold, will enable readers to experience these spaces and listen to revealing interviews with the tenants.

'Although government constructed Housing Estates can be seen everywhere in Hong Kong, they are effectively private citadels, the interiors of which only their tenants have a chance to infiltrate. This study, focusing on individual tenants’ customized approaches to spatial use, is a revelation. Fascinating in terms of interior design, it also provides an insight into social mores and some of the fundamental influences on Hong Kong’s society and the psycse...