Global migration flows are increasing for various reasons, and societies around the world are becoming increasingly culturally diverse.

Germany is currently the second top destination for international migrants. The country has already received multiple waves of immigrants in the past century – from guest workers to refugees – but its attitude toward foreign newcomers has historically been conservative. However, with the Skilled Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) passed in 2023, the Federal Government now aims to push Germany into a “Modern Immigration Country” (Ein Modernes Einwanderungsland).

Within this new national ambition, the integration of foreign newcomers is highly prioritised; and public institutions are expected to facilitate this two-way process between local Berliners and foreign newcomers.

To support this, the public library emerges as a highly relevant institution. As an architectural typology, it began as a house for collections and on-site reading. Yet over time, digitalisation has largely reduced the need for this building to fulfil this specific function; thus liberating and shifting its focus to become an active site of social connections, where people from all walks of life can encounter each other regularly.

Furthermore, in Berlin’s future city development, the Senate envisions the public library as a mixed-use centre for strengthening social cohesion and bringing life to new residential districts (Neue Stadtquartiere). While there are already well-located public libraries – already enjoyed by existing Berliners of the vicinity – that can serve these districts, they are not spatially nor technically equipped to meet the multimedia & multi-programmatic needs for this social ambition.

This leads to the research question: How can we design a public library that facilitates the integration of migrants into the local community?

It calls for the project to critically examine and design a district-level public library, which primarily aims to be a social connector for facilitating integration. The secondary goals are to host and disseminate diverse media types; and to serve as an upgraded futureproof district centre.

In 2022, the Outline Zoning Plan S/K15/27 was approved by the Hong Kong Government, confirming the demolition of Cha Kwo Ling Village (hereinafter: CKL Village) for high-density residential development. The fate of CKL Village and the responses it instigated raises how various stakeholders value the same space differently, but lack a sufficiently comprehensive framework and inclusive, common platform to express and negotiate them. Consequently, the unarticulated heritage assets often become subordinate to urban development.

Thus, this thesis analyses four perspectives - namely the Government, the Developer, the Villager, and the Hong Konger - to understand their respective valuations of CKL Village, and whether there are potentials amidst their similarities and differences. In academia, these perspectives have previously been addressed in relation to Hong Kong's heritage; but since the Anti-Extradition Law Movement (2019), there is a need to renew the understanding of these societal stakeholders and their motivations.
Thus, this thesis serves as a theoretical rehearsal of gathering and aligning different voices, utilising UNESCO's values and attributes framework, and resonating with the first two steps of the Historic Urban Landscape concept.

In doing so, the thesis presents two key critiques against the Hong Kong Government's current heritage mechanism. Firstly, the underlying monument-based approach that fails to address heritage assets in the form of groups and landscapes. Secondly, the reluctance to engage with the existing communities who currently occupy the heritage. Finally, as the thesis framework has revealed specific and different interests for each perspective, it calls for an active negotiation between them, beyond the scope of thesis writing.