About

Village Commoning: Developing a Community-led Model in Countryside Revitalisation is a research initiative established in 2021 at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), funded by the Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Led by Ms. Vincci Mak, Senior Lecturer at the HKU Division of Landscape Architecture, the team utilises “commoning” as a conceptual framework to derive a community-led model of village revitalisation that enables local stakeholders to take a greater role in initiating revitalisation of their village assets.

While Hong Kong has seen a lot of village revitalisation schemes in recent years, this project stands out as it pays special attention to the needs and aspirations of local villagers, hoping to engage the village community more fully in the process. The proposed model also emphasises cooperative governance and the collective management of resources that can lead to the creation of new values, fostering a sense of pride and ownership of place by empowering the community as a whole.

Our vision

  • Commoning is an important social practice that can strengthen village identity and enhance social well-being
  • Effective collaborations between different stakeholders can maximise the benefits of village revitalisation
  • This methodology can help enhance the cultural and ecological values of rural villages, thus enabling long term sustainability

What we do

Phase I – RESEARCH: Reviewing and analysing a series of international case studies of commoning practices that mobilised collaborations between different stakeholders

Phase II – COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Hosting of a series of engagement exercises to gather feedback from relevant parties

Phase III – DISSEMINATION: Synthesising all research findings and feedback from public engagements

Who we are

  • Principal Investigator and Project Leader: Vincci Mak
  • Co-Investigator: Maxime Decaudin
  • Project Manager: Scarlet Cheng
  • Research Assistant: Michelle Ho, Maisy Lai, Candace Lam, Parco Law, Jack Mok, Marco Yeung

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Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme - Project Number: EP86/27/24/11-18
HKU Human Research Ethics Committee Reference Number: EA220115

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