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"Ecological" Consumerism

Part 2 Project 2012
Shuk Wai Sarah Ng
Chinese University of Hong Kong | China
As the city is developing towards bigness, grandness and monopolized, sole proprietorship or small scale businesses have fewer opportunities to run & establish their businesses and eventually we are losing all Hong Kong’s specialities. It is time for us to change our capitalist mentality before Hong Kong's grassroot practice, character and culture become totally buried by the grand masters.

As rental cost is the only or the prime income of malls nowadays, malls have much stress on raising the rental periodically. By responding to the (1) commercial trend e.g. CSR & onsite recycling, (2) the upcoming policies e.g. municipal waste disposal charging system and (3) market needs e.g. urban rooftop farming, purchase of organic products, mini storage, this project proposed exploring potentials & saving in the consumption and resumption system to generate source of revenue and cutting expenses so as to bring about a win-win situation for the mall, for the small scale businesses & stalls and for shoppers.

By studying the commercial vernaculars in Hong Kong, unfolding their spatial practice, settings and business strategies generate design strategies for improving larger scale shopping complex. Storage is being extracted from the complex. Tenants can rent the storage space according to their practice and business cycles of the year, allowing more flexibility on running cost. Neighbourhood can rent the storage since flats are tiny in urban areas. The stalls nearby the site could keep their stocks. Shopping mall is not a place for the tenants and shoppers only but at times can do more for the neighbourhood. As shopping mall is a large consumption node, where much waste is generated, this is another potential for money making. Sorting and selling municipal solid waste covers 1/4 of the running cost of Taiwan Da Ai Broadcast. By-products of the resumption cycles can in return benefit and feedback to the consumption system, e.g. fertilized soil from organic waste, clean water from waste water treatment, plastic and paper bags for shopping from recycled plastic and papers etc. The mall is a node of consumption. It should also be a node of resumption for the city.

Shuk Wai Sarah Ng

Tutor(s)

2012
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