Rethinking Micro-level Spatial Rationalities: A Typology Study of In-between Spaces in High-rise High-density Communities
Authorship: Kar Him Mo,Danyang Lei, Izzy Yi Jian, Weixuan Chen* (*=corresponding author)
Publication Date: May 2026
Abstract: In-between spaces (IBSs) are often overlooked in planning, conceived as residual or transitional voids with limited design attention and ambiguous functions. In high-rise high-density (HRHD) residential communities, IBSs are frequently used as public spaces of high significance. However, existing literature in residential communities tends to focus on large-scale formal public spaces or domestic interiors, leaving a conceptual and empirical gap in understanding how residential IBSs are constituted, experienced and appropriated in situ. This paper addresses this gap by applying spatial rationalities as a theoretical lens to examine the formation and everyday negotiation of IBSs in three HRHD residential communities in Hong Kong. Drawing on photographic documentation, on-site observations and focus group interviews, the study identifies six types of IBS in HRHD residential communities: playgrounds and outdoor gyms, landscape pathways, sitting-out areas, indoor circulations, building perimeters and outdoor circulations. While these spaces were formally designed with specific functions informed by dispositional and generative rationality, their actual uses often extended beyond intended boundaries. Residents adapted IBSs to meet unmet needs, a process that unfolded through vitalist rationalities, as spatial affordances were reinterpreted, improvised or reappropriated in response to everyday rhythms and embodied knowledge. The findings reveal that spatial rationalities do not operate in isolation but emerge relationally across scales and over time. Dispositional logics may evolve into generative ones and, under certain conditions, spill over into vitalist practices. This layered interaction suggests that IBSs of HRHD residential communities function as performative micro-sites of spatial governance. The study contributes a typological framework for understanding IBSs and offers a conceptual model for rethinking micro-level residential planning practices in HRHD settings that emphasise spatial adaptability, social use and lived urban experience.
Publication Journal: Habitat International
