Title: Occupy Cental. Hong Kong Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs)

Author: Xiaohui Chen

Year: 2020

Abstract: This paper considers how power will be resisted and reconstructed through critical spatial practices. It draws on the experiences of Hong Kong foreign domestic workers (FDWs), focuses on the spatiality of social struggles, and explores ways of reclaiming the city. Occupy Central, set in Hong Kong, is inspired by the foreign domestic workers’ occupation of public spaces on their off-days. The theme is further explored in my thesis project, where I set out a set of strategies to help foreign domestic workers to experiment with new identities. Design strategies are translated into a handbook as a set of ingredients and methodologies to inspire them to organise into informal groups and leverage their emerging political power. The overall strategies are essential for not only FDWs, but also other groups’ survival, development, and ultimate prosperity. In light of the above scenario illustrated by Hong Kong FDWs, this kind of self-advocacy process will expand and take new dimensions in other contexts. Some other marginalised groups and communities can also get benefits from the project strategies by emphasising these critical phases in archiving their urban visions.