Project Background

With “double-ageing” (ageing of people and building) as one of JCDISI’s strategic focuses, we explore how to future-proof our housing and social infrastructure to support ageing-in-place in face of a rapidly ageing community, and how to design in order to contribute to social connectedness and social harmony in our communities. JCDISI has been exploring the potentials of introducing "Intergenerational (IG) Play" as a design concept to reimagine public open spaces in Hong Kong.  We aim to design an enabling environment to encourage older adults to be more physically active and reap benefits from intergenerational interactions. 

• In 2019, under PolyU Jockey Club "Operation SoInno" “One from Hundred Thousand” Season 4: Intergenerational Play Space Co-creation Workshops and Symposium, we explored this new play space design concept in Hong Kong, and to understand the community’s needs, concerns and aspirations in the planning and design of public open space to stimulate IG play. 

• Following that, JCDISI initiated a few Action Projects, namely the Intergenerational Play Space Design Competition | HKHS Prosperous Garden (May – Nov 2020), the Kowloon Park Fitness Trail Proof of Concept study (Aug 2020 – Sept 2021) and Lai Kok Estate Rooftop Intergeneration Therapeutic Garden, to develop prototype schemes to test the public’s receptiveness toward the new play space design concept. JCDISI solicited invaluable suggestions and advice from the general public and the PolyU IG Play Space Panel on how to design an enabling environment to encourage older adults to be more physical active and reap benefits from IG interactions.

• In 2022, JCDISI launched the “JC IG Play Space” Project at two public housing estates managed by our strategic partner, Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), with the support of the pilot funding from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (JCCT). JCCT, HKHS and JCDISI view this trans-sector collaboration an invaluable opportunity to explore and underpin a basic framework of how the IG play space concept can be modelled and applied in housing developments to meet the needs of the current and future oldand improve IG harmony in the community. The two-year project will see JCDISI working with HKHS to remodel the public spaces in two public housing estates through the IG play space concept. The public space upgrade and placemaking exercise will not only support intergenerational play and social cohesion, the hardware and software programme solutions will also contribute positively to building a sense of pride and sense of community for the two estates’ residents.