Any commodity of human usage inherits the implicit human property of having a transforming life. Like human beings, they have wear and tear due to aging and usage, need to be well maintained, and are subject to transformation in order to cope with the external surroundings, and also to fulfill internal needs. However, these transformation actions do not have absolute freedom. Each activity is restricted by either explicit or implicit line of territorial control imposed by immediate authority, beyond which one does not have the authority to act upon. Considering residential built environment, where people inhabit, and which transform according to the needs of the inhabitants, the transformation actions are restricted to different levels of territorial control. In this article, a particular residential neighborhood is chosen, and the practice of territorial control is investigated on two levels, namely the individual building level, and individual housing unit level. Choosing Wah-Fu estate for the case study, which represents a typical residential built environment in Hong Kong (HK), the study exposes two basic human aspects through the study of transformation of built environment: people’s need for change the surrounding environment, and people’s yearn for practicing authority, and emphasizes how both are restricted with certain territorial control for the sake of greater benefit of collective habitation in a society
