How pro-democracy demonstrators use cultural icons to good effect

Visitors to the Occupy movement's two main protest sites in Admiralty and Mong Kok see great organisation, discipline and creativity. But each district has its own character, and this influences the physical use, atmosphere and decoration of each site. The atmosphere at Admiralty is similar to a summer camp, with rows of tents and temporary living and activity areas lining the canyon of office buildings.

An inventive street-smart approach to urban planning has seen teams of students use any available material, including street-side planter boxes, bamboo, and government-owned steel and plastic barriers, to solve the area's design problems, now that it is a pedestrian, car-free zone full of temporary inhabitants.

Crude pedestrian bridges have been constructed allowing people to safely cross concrete road dividers. An outdoor student study area has been set up with comfortable makeshift desks, electricity connections and battery charging points.

Recycling and rubbish collection points and first-aid stations are manned, while donation tents collect and distribute food and water.

The Lennon Wall is an outdoor gallery of Post-it stickers displaying supportive, solidarity messages, while larger political banners cover government offices and pedestrian overpasses.

Students and young volunteers administer the entire area with an impressive flair for logistics. Over in Mong Kok, old-style soapbox debates about political reform are held on the streets with participation by people of all ages.

The protest area's best expression of design can be seen in hand-written directional and information signage, and in the self-constructed barricades that have closed roads for the past few weeks.