2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Service Hubs in East Asian City-regions: From Self-development to Self-preservation?
| Project/Area Number |
19K13444
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| Research Institution | Kyushu University |
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Principal Investigator |
コルナトウスキ ヒェラルド 九州大学, 比較社会文化研究院, 講師 (00614835)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | Service hub / urban inequality / homelessness / migrant workers / inner-city neighborhoods |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The plan for this year was to combine the Hong Kong and Singapore survey results and to acquire decisive insights into the preservation mechanism of both cities' inner-city service hubs. The unforeseen COVID19 factor, mostly felt in the form of lock-downs, however, has been crucially disruptive to this mechanism. Whereas preservation against encroaching redevelopment projects (Hong Kong) and political contestation (Singapore) might have been a vital factor to the continuation of battling social polarization and equality, the pandemic has shifted priority towards the adaptive and resourceful propensities of the third sector in general, and service hubs in particular. To this extent, the large-scale intervention by the public sector against the socioeconomic fallout of the pandemic has been an enabling factor for the third sector to step-up their activities and experiment with alternative solutions. For the case of Singapore, I have published a workshop paper on this. For the Hong Kong case, this has been difficult, especially following the enactment of the Hong Kong national security law. Yet, I have continued online interviews with key person involved in the initial stage of the community housing movement.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Due to the COVID19 situation, I was unable to conduct on-site surveys, and this has significantly delayed the comparative part of this research project. On the other hand, I have been maintaining contact with the major third sector agencies in order to gather primary data via online channels.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
With Singapore having recently opened its borders, I plan to conduct field surveys in this fiscal year on the recent third sector care service coalitions for migrant workers in Singapore. I hope to also conduct field surveys on the partnership status between the public sector and third sector in Hong Kong on the one hand, and the impact of the pandemic on the (informal) housing sector on the other. In case travel restrictions continue, I will resort to online communication methods.
In addition to both surveys, I am preparing field surveys on solidarity hubs for transient workers in Japanese city-regions. These hubs are rather loosely organized and small-scale initiatives compared to service hubs, but serve as reference point to the evolving/adaptive mechanisms of the service hubs taken up in this research.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the continuation of global travel restrictions, I have decided to carry over my travel expenses for oversees surveys and workshops to the next fiscal year. Most international academic societies have resumed on-site conferences, so I plan to attend in person in the third quarter of the fiscal year. Moreover, I plan to conduct the Singapore survey in the second quarter. The Hong Kong survey, if the opportunity allows for it, will be conducted in the final quarter of the year. Besides the travel expenses, expenses will be used for paper publications on the result of this research project.
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