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On a Saturday afternoon, a group of Hongkongers gathered at a public park near Prince Edward’s flower market to play friendly table tennis matches.
With prizes sponsored by a nearby flower shop, the two team tournaments hosted this month are part of a community effort to strengthen local ties ahead of government plans to redevelop the area.
Organised by Urban Diary, a storytelling NGO focused on sustainability, this citizen-led project, Rosemary in the City, is nurturing the flower market neighbourhood’s social fabric.
The group has also organised walking tours of the area and plans to launch an illustrated book featuring interviews with flower market shops next month.
For Carbo Leung, one of the organisers, the park’s concrete tables hold decades of memories. The 34-year-old grew up playing table tennis with his father here and has watched the tables change over time.
“It’s tied to my childhood,” Leung said. “Back then, the tables were stone. They’ve been upgraded since, but they’re still in the same three spots.”
Next to the table tennis area is a space where the elderly often rest on benches or stretch under the sun. Leung reflected on what made this area so special.
“It is quite rare to find a place in the middle of the city with so much greenery – somewhere so comfortable, peaceful and pleasant,” he said.
“Looking back now that I’m older, especially knowing it might soon be gone, I realise [public space] is actually quite a luxury.”
Redevelopment plans
Having lived in this neighbourhood for more than 30 years, Leung hopes to foster local bonds while he can before it changes.
In 2024, the government announced plans to redevelop 31 buildings aged between 64 and 76 years, affecting about 275 households and 33 ground-floor shops around Sai Yee Street and Flower Market Street.
The project, slated for completion in 2036, aims to turn the area into a green hub and expand the existing flower market with new facilities and more open space.
Some vendors have expressed concerns that the government’s plan might erase the market’s character. For some residents, the revamp raises questions about what community elements might be lost along the way.
Who makes a community?
Among those joining the table tennis game was 24-year-old Wood*, who discussed her concerns that redeveloping this old neighbourhood might strip away the shops and residents who make up this community.
“The reason neighbours say it changes the community structure is gentrification – it means everything starts costing [more] money,” she said.
“Once it’s high-end, the neighbourhood vibe is gone, and the things that belonged to the locals are gone.”
Wood knows the value of local shops as she spent her childhood helping her father run a watch and jewellery store in Yuen Long.
“I actually grew up on those local neighbourhood [shops]. When I was a kid, I’d hang out with the local crowd in Yuen Long. As soon as school was out, I’d go there to watch the shop and help my dad,” she said.
Another participant, Fat*, 27, also travelled from Yuen Long for the event.
Fat said he welcomed redevelopment projects because they could bring change to older districts.
“It can’t last forever. Old buildings come with a lot of ‘old building problems’. Eventually, they all have to be torn down because our technology isn’t designed to build things that last forever, and the economy doesn’t produce things that never break,” he said.
‘An inevitable process’
Since Leung’s building falls within the redevelopment zone, he and his family will have to relocate. He shared what he would miss about the area.
“In the summer, flowers from the cotton trees drift into my house, and in the mornings or at dusk, birds perch on the air conditioner from my room,” he said.
He said his family felt “helpless” about their situation, though they understood this was part of the process. They received the government’s offer of HK$15,377 per square foot of saleable area and have yet to decide what to do.
“I feel that urban renewal is an inevitable process, but I just never imagined that this inevitability would land on us,” he said.
“Our building actually just finished a full renovation within the last five years; both the exterior and the interior are in great shape – it’s quite beautiful, actually.”
As redevelopment plans move forward, community initiatives remind residents that public spaces form the fabric of community life.
“We need to return to the original intent of redevelopment,” Leung said.
“If the goal is truly to improve the lives of the people living there, then you should be protecting the locals – whether they are business owners, residents or just people who use the community spaces.”
* Full names withheld at interviewees’ requests
