Community as the material basis of creative citizenship in Taiwan and Hong Kong

The study of citizenship has expanded to explore the potential of acts of creativity in the practising of citizenship. However, there has been only a limited attempt to study the manifestation of creative citizenship in Asian societies, where contentious creative industries and the entanglement between civic agency and state control are in evidence. Considering community as the material basis of citizenship, and creativity as a way to generate community engagement, we examine how communities have practised their citizenship by creative modes of engagement in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Based on our fieldwork on two development projects, we argue that creative activities can help communities to develop an alternative form of citizenship, one that demonstrates their capabilities to co-create communal spaces. In the process, they empower themselves to govern their spaces and promote their civic values. This study also uncovers the potential conflicts between the creative efforts of communities and the state’s focus on social welfare or tourism. Both communities face the challenge of shaping creativity as a critical site of negotiating citizenship in their respective contested environments, and this deserves further inquiry.