Theme:
According to the Building (Planning) Regulations (2020), a basement refers to “any storey of a building below the ground storey”. Therefore, a basement can basically exist in any type of building. Yuo and Lizieri (2013) suggested that the presence of basements in malls often denotes a high-rise building, which therefore accounts for the higher degree of departmentalization in malls with basements. This explains the significance of a basement in shopping malls. As a result, I would like to focus on basements in shopping malls in this research.
In the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on our lives, and around 1.2 million cases and 9000 deaths were recorded during the fifth wave in Hong Kong (Lee, 2022). Luckily, the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong seems to show a sign of easing with the steadily decreasing number of new cases of infection, and the Hong Kong Government also starts relaxing social distancing measures. Therefore, it seems like everything is getting back to normal in this ‘control city’. In light of this, I would like to investigate how things have been controlled in the city under the pandemic, be it people controlling their behaviours or people being controlled by certain control measures.
Method of research:
After setting up the research question, I conducted some research online to find out how different things are being controlled in the pandemic. First, I researched the current measures implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus. I found that quite a lot of control measures are probably performed at the basements of shopping malls, such as the compulsory scanning of the leave home safe QR codes when entering different venues and the prohibition of group gatherings of more than four people. However, to better understand how these measures control people and whether people are really controlling their behaviours, I decided to conduct a field trip. After thorough consideration, I chose to visit Langham Place in Mong Kok, which has a 2-storey basement shopping mall and a 2-storey basement carpark. There are several reasons for my decision. One of them is the familiarity with this place as I used to live in Mong Kok. When thinking of shopping malls with basements, this place immediately came to mind, and I believe almost all Hong Kong people have heard of this mall, making it a superior site for conducting my research. Moreover, the location of the site also accounts for my decision. As Langham Place is located in Mong Kok, which is one of the most crowded districts and one of the most popular places for entertainment in Hong Kong, this allows me to analyze how the situation is under control during the pandemic comprehensively.
Video production:
The video was shot in Langham Place on Sunday afternoon. I chose to film the video at a weekend as there will be more people at the site. This enables me to have a better observation of how people are being controlled and how people control their behaviours. During the process of filming the video, I took many shots of people walking around the basement levels and cars moving in and out of the basement carpark. I filmed those shots with different camera movements, such as static, horizontal and vertical panning. These shots prove that people have started resuming their normal daily life, and things are gradually under control. Moreover, I took some videos and photos of the signs, leave home safe QR codes, thermometers, and hand sanitiser at the site. This shows how the control measures are implemented at the site and whether people follow those measures. When I was editing the video, I sped up some shots, and the purpose is to emphasise the crowd at the site by speeding up the movement of people.
Reflection:
After working on this video essay, I have learnt a lot about the impacts of the pandemic on our city and how our city is under control during the pandemic. While it is true that quite a lot of control measures are implemented, not everyone follows the measures strictly, which means that people are not completely controlled by the measures. I hope that with the implementation of control measures and people controlling their behaviours autonomously, the pandemic can be kept under control in this ‘control city’ in the future.
References:
Buildings (Planning) Regulation, Cap 123F (2020).
Cheung, E, & Heung, S. (2022, May 2). Coronavirus: fifth wave under control, says Hong Kong health chief as daily Covid cases fall below 300 for first time since early February. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3176256/coronavirus-hong-kong-reports-283-new-covid-cases
Lee, P. (2022, April 21). After months of restrictions, Hong Kong starts to relax Covid-19 social distancing measures. Hong Kong Free Press. https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/21/after-months-of-restrictions-hong-kong-starts-to-relax-covid-19-social-distancing-measures/
Yuo, T., & Lizieri, C. (2013). Tenant Placement Strategies within Multi-Level Large-Scale Shopping Centers. Journal of Real Estate Research, 35(1), 25-52, https://doi.org/10.1080/10835547.2013.12091352
Chan Wai Ki 3035933957
You explored the use of the word ‘control’ in various instances throughout the video to describe aspects of the basement floors in the mall. For greater clarity, perhaps you can state in the beginning of your video that you are investigating how people control their own behaviours and how they are controlled by particular measures. You may also like to reference how ‘control’ has been theorised and studied by others. Also, while you substantiated your choice of studying the basement floors of the mall, how do they differ from the floors above ground in the context of your research question?