Through interviewing residents of these two dwellings –subdivided units and nano flats –and comparing them to past academic papers from the disciplines of psychology and urban studies on small living spaces, I highlighted the multi-use practice of space that occurred in these two dwellings and reveal possible consequences of the shortage of living space and explored the relationship between the size of living space and the resident’s well-being.

In consideration of residents’ experience through the lens of theories of home including sociologist Mary Douglas and social psychologists Lindsay T. Graham, Samuel D. Gosling and Christopher K. Travis’s understanding of home, I raise the question of whether living space, as Anthony Poon would like to suggest, really only serves one functionality - sleeping?

Reflecting on the discrepancies and gap between the marketed version of home and house ownership associated with nano flats, and that of the reality of living in such small dwellings. Ultimately, I made the argument that there is a need for the Hong Kong government to reconsider and reiterate the current land policy on the minimum size of living space to protect the well-being of the people in Hong Kong.

Home as More than a Place to Sleep:
Living and Well-being in Subdivided Units and Nano Flats in Hong Kong

“No matter how big the Forbidden City is, when it comes to sleeping, the emperor will only need a bed to sleep.” Anthony Poon, the chairman of the real estate firm, which in 2016, built the smallest nano flat in Hong Kong. 

In the 2016 episode “Mini life (迷你生活)” of the weekly documentary series “Hong Kong Connection”, published by Radio Television Hong Kong, the chairman of Chun Wo Development Holdings Limited, Anthony Poon made the above statement to promote nano flats during a press conference for private residential building “T plus”. This building included the smallest nano flat (128 square feet) that exists in Hong Kong.  Due to the extremely unaffordable real estate market in the city, there is a large group of people living in spaces under the size of a parking space (180 square feet). In consequence of limited living space, meals and work are done on the bed, food and clothes are stored in the same drawer, space is used in multiple ways for different daily purposes.