Young people across many societies face growing problems in making the transition from the parental home to independent living. Rising house prices and the lack of affordable alternatives to home ownership is most commonly blamed. This paper explores these issues in relation to young people in Hong Kong. The paper argues that the housing question in Hong Kong has distinct local characteristics and cannot be disconnected from wider political and economic tensions. It also shows that the housing choices and views of young people are shaped by more than issues of cost and access. The paper draws on a unique data-set which explores the attitudes and expectations with regard to housing among young people in Hong Kong. Addressing the housing problem is widely regarded as a political priority and essential to maintain social cohesion. However, political imperatives and economic interests are pulling in different directions.

Societal transformation is one of the most topical concepts in sustainability research and policy-making. Used in many ways, it indicates that nonlinear systematic changes are needed in order to fully address global environmental and human development challenges. This paper explores what sustainability transformations mean for lay focus group participants in Cabo Verde, China, Fiji, Sweden, and the USA. Key findings include: (a) Tightly linked to interpersonal relationships, sustainability was seen as going beyond the Sustainable Development Goals to include a sense of belonging; (b) transformations were framed as fundamental changes from today’s society, but most participants stated that transformation pathways need to splice new structures into the old; (c) new technologies are key engines of change. Yet, the most common drivers were awareness, education, and knowledge sharing; and (d) regardless of whether state-centric or decentralized governance was preferred, personal action was seen as essential. The focus groups displayed a shared understanding across the geographical settings; a common realization of profound sustainability predicaments facing societies across the world; and a desire for fundamental change towards a more sustainable way of life.

In the context of urban expansion and regeneration, development-induced resettlement has had inevitable impacts on place attachment and residential satisfaction of residents. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the social-psychological performances of both attachment and satisfaction, and the possible influences of the former on the latter. Such deficiency also emerges when considering different resettlement patterns in peripheral urban China. This study conducted a semi-structural survey on two neighborhoods affected by the construction of Higher Mega Education Center (HEMC) in Guangzhou with different resettlement patterns. Based on multidimensional measurement, residents in relocated subsidized housing expressed higher attachment and satisfaction through the remaining social bonding as ‘acquaintance society’ than those in in-situ urban villages relying on self-identified clan-kinship and stable reciprocity. Hukou status is found to be fundamental in building attachment and life fulfillment, especially for the urban villages with plural population structure. Significances are found in the impacts of place dependence, social bonding and place identification on residential satisfaction in in-situ neighborhoods while only social bonding was found to be significant in the relocated ‘enclave’ one. However, deeper integration with affective connections are insufficient for both. The findings generally indicate that positive outcomes are also achieved for self-regeneration after resettlement.

Previous literature has paid attention to housing pathways and cohort features of young people, but studies connecting the two themes are lacking. This paper offers a perspective on the cohort analysis of young people based on their housing choices and aspirations. With empirical evidence from a two-round social survey, this study explores the ‘not leaving home’ pattern of the housing choices of young people in Hong Kong. With some supplementary subgroup analysis, the cohort label of a ‘post-80s generation’ in Hong Kong is challenged. Contradictions are revealed in the views of our young people about housing and family life, and further analysis is conducted to examine the impacts of economic and sociocultural factors in the local context of Hong Kong. This study argues that we need to look beyond the shared features and subgroup differences and consider how sociocultural factors, particularly gender, marriage, education, and social norms, interact with economic factors to shape housing choices, aspirations and apparent contradictions in the viewpoints of young people regarding their personal development and housing futures. In doing so, the paper also engages with debates around intra and intergenerational dynamics and inequalities. The paper focuses on Hong Kong but these debates have international resonance.