Human-centric Design: Neighbours presents neighbourhood research and projects by Year 1 students taking Human-centred Innovation at HKU I-School. Hosted at Commons Lab from 17 to 23 November, the exhibition follows the course’s 2026 innovation challenge, “Make neighbourhood”, which asks students to consider how neighbourly relationships take shape in Sai Wan.

The project begins with close observation of everyday places. Students identify locations where neighbourhood connections are already happening, alongside places where those connections could develop. They ask what each place makes possible, where people encounter difficulties, what workarounds residents have created and whose presence or needs may be missing. These questions help teams move beyond broad labels and focus on particular people who live or work locally.

Over the semester, students develop something that people can use, try and respond to at Commons Lab. The exhibition brings their neighbourhood research into public view, connecting observations of local life with the ideas and project responses that grow from them.

A public project event on 17 November gives visitors an opportunity to engage with the students’ work and offer their views. The wider showcase creates a meeting point between university learning and neighbourhood experience, inviting residents and visitors to consider how human-centred innovation can begin with attention to the people, relationships and everyday situations around us.