About Freedom Ball

Freedom Ball questions whether the Hong Kong government controls the use of public space for the benefit of Hong Kong people.

We do this through simple and striking interventions in public spaces which encourage the public to engage directly with activities which are currently banned in the space.

The principles of our interventions are that they challenge the rules in a way that is positive and engaging and encourage the public to join in actively.

Our aim is to change the way that public spaces are managed, designed and controlled so that they meet the needs of Hong Kong people.

自由波向政府質疑: 政府控制公共空間的使用是否有利於公眾利益。

我們通過在公共场所舉辮一些簡單而又引起大家矚目的行動:鼓勵公眾直接參與一些仍然被禁的活動。

這些行動的宗旨就是: 大家用正面而又有趣的形式鼓勵公眾積極投入這類活動,挑戰僵化規條。

我們的目的在於改變公共空間的設計和管理模式, 最終能符合香港市民的需要。


Sunday, April 18, 2010

Yellow Banners!

One of the issues that came up at the LCSD Workshop was those horrible, huge, yellow banners in parks. Everybody hates them, including senior management in LCSD apparently, but nobody seems to know how to stop them appearing so in order to help and encourage the LCSD in their efforts to eradicate the yellow banner disease we're going to start a league table for yellow banners. Next time you're in your park, count how many yellow banners there are, tell us the name of the park, and we'll put together a league table of the best and worst parks when it comes to yellow banners.

Post as comments her or at the Facebook Groupand we'll pull the league table together.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

LCSD Workshop

Well, we had the workshop with the LCSD on Wednesday and it was ......interesting. It was encouraging in some ways in that there was support for much of what Freedom Ball has been talking about - removing fences, opening up space, creating open accessible parks and tackling over-regulation and signage. However, as is the nature of these things in the early stages, things tend to break down when it gets down to specific action.

So what we'd like from the public is specific examples that we can work on. If we work on specific sites and situations we can find out where the real barriers to change lie. So if your your local park has a fenced off space that you can't access, a lack of open, grassed space or overzealous enforcement of rules, let us know. Please include as much detail as you can, including park name and photos if you can.

You can post it up on the Facebook Group: Freedom Ball

If you're not on Facebook, by all means e-mail to me at the get involved e-mail contact on the right.

Shatin Survey

I forgot to post up the results of the survey we did with park users at the last Freedom Ball event in Shatin, so here they are!

100% enjoyed Freedom Ball

97% thought ball games should be allowed in the park

90% thought there should be more grass

77% thought there should be more free areas for play and relaxation

64% thought there are too many rules

62% thought more variety of activities should be allowed