social capital
local voices
cultural heritage
Urban Discovery is a creative agency that uses cultural mapping and design thinking to identify the DNA of places, unravel the different voices and historic layers, dissect pain points, locate local champions and solicit ideas from the community for the community. Our tools and methods equip residents to gain agency in their urban future.
We work in historic city districts. We help to build the business case for heritage revitalisation. Our clients are local governments, property developers, housing corporations and architects. With offices in Hong Kong and the Netherlands we are experienced in complex multicultural environments and international ‘shared’ heritage projects.
– Mr Saleem, HK Academy teacher
historic neighbourhoods
local participants
cultural assets mapped
proud locals
“In our cities, which are increasingly cosmopolitan, we need to ensure that cultural diversity becomes an asset and not a handicap”
- Roland Ries, Mayor of Strasbourg
“I think we Hongkongers can be very proud of our heritage. It is time for us to revive our own history, write our own story”
– Douglas Young, founder of GOD, Hong Kong
“If you want to mobilise a community, you need to recognise their roots”
- Benjamin Sin, Caritas Hong Kong
“To find the personality of a city we need to understand why certain spaces became places”
- Mariana Isa, Heritage Output Lab, Kuala Lumpur
“It really underscores the importance of community involvement to good urban planning. preservation of localities and characteristics that make a city special, and which shouldn’t be taken for granted"
- Elizabeth Bosher, chairperson Project Chambers, Hong Kong
“This continues to be one of the best bottom-up, local heritage awareness efforts on the planet; and they keep adding more places”
- Donovan Rypkema, Heritage Strategies International, Washington DC
“You are working in beautiful projects to make the community more connected and valued"
- Yvonne De Suner Beltran, Banyan Tree Hotels
“I love what you do with the i-Discover app. It’s something so intimate and yet so informative.”
- Ritwajit Das, Chief Strategist South Asia - Global Call for Climate Action
“iDiscover encourages visitors to make their own stories and tread their own path. This connects them directly with the actual residents"
- Channa Daswatte, Chairman Galle Heritage Foundation
“What iDiscover is doing is like making an archive of Hong Kong history – through the eyes of locals”
- Amy Tse, social worker Caritas, Hong Kong
“An award winning, community driven journey to explore local cultures in a new shared reality"
- Creative Business University Utrecht
“Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural heritage”
“Leverage culture and heritage for liveable cities and strong urban economies”
“Implementing the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach at local level”