What defines the city? As an interplay of flowing public masses and hidden private spaces. But also of the indistinct in between, its alleyways and exits – transitory spaces between public and private with. Attributes from both, yet not fully belonging to either.
Research on cities and social lives has typically focused on producing and analysing a distinct public-private binary. Studies analysing the home have emphasised the role of privacy, as a space protected from the intrusion of others, as a place to develop the self (Denov & Akesson, 2013). On the other hand, urban design literature has sought to centre the public as a space of interaction and between individuals, as a mosaic of differentiation, polarization and social exclusion along lines of access of resources and differentiation (Sen & Silverman, 2014; Madanipour, 1996). However, the practice of distinguishing private and public is inherently flawed: they only make sense in relation to each other, as interdependent constructs, and should be analysed as a hybrid entity (Madanipour, 2003).
Many theorists have problematized the public-private distinction. Increasing privatization, commercialization and aestheticization of public spaces has tended to shrink the public sphere. Increasingly, the public sphere assumes a hybrid character, becoming semi-private spaces such as malls or plazas, inherently exclusionary entities (Schindler, 2017; Nissen, 2008). The public decreases not only in size but also as a political sphere, increasingly excluding marginalized groups and pushing their expressions into the shrinking private realm (Duncan, 1996). The distinction of public-private as framed within the literature must also be critiqued as arising from a Eurocentric definition of these concepts, with children playing in the streets of North Jakarta (Muasaroh & Herlily, 2020) or elderly adults in Hong Kong nursing homes (Yang et al., 2020) perceiving these concepts diverging manners.
Questions of accurately defining the private also become increasingly difficult in a digitalising world, with online spaces being inaccurately defined across traditional lines. Digitalisation also offers renewed reflection on previous concepts, such as privacy. While many states enforce an online right to data privacy, such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Zaeem & Barber, 2020) or the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Ryan & Rachel, 2021), no such right to privacy or private space exists for the physical world.
The attached video seeks to display a variety of contrasts between the public (intersections, thoroughfares), private (hallways and staircases) and those places in between (alleys, exits). The video was filmed in the Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui areas of Hong Kong Island. Areas which define as crowded luxury shopping, aging social housing and a maze of alleys and shortcuts providing mobility and respite from both places. The alleys and exits draw particular attention and curiosity, as hybrid spaces for workers to take cigarette breaks in between shifts. They function as areas of social deregulation, with neither the defined outward commerce and glitz of the frontal facades. They do not possess the explicit openness and invitation of the public shopping spaces and restaurants (so long as you can afford it). Nor do they exhibit the enclosed quietude and defined exclusivity which interior home spaces create through locked doors and elevator keypads. They are more difficult to define through their hybridity.
The research for the video and its accompanying theoretical framework was performed through a broad online literature review, primarily aimed at works on urban design, sociology and anthropology of place and critical analysis of these concepts and fields. The film was shot on the 4th of May, 2023, displaying the urban indoor and outdoor spaces of Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui described above. One of my intellectual and technical considerations during filming revolved around the aspect ratio. The widescreen film format which is most commonly used in film, including my own work, seeks to replicate the horizontality of human vision. This originally intending to offer a more immersive image than the traditional 4:3 format (Schiffman-Eller, 2022). However, filming Hong Kong – in particular its dense urban space – I found myself limited by the format. The high-rises and tight alleyways are cut off by the aspect ratio, offering little ability to view the full length of the city’s spaces. I considered adopting a vertical imaging format – akin to some social media apps – but decided against it, partially as a critique of traditional film formats. Can our commonly accepted customs of film technicality offer an accurate portrayal of the modern city, its public, private and hybrid spaces?
Verhagen Bram
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