Urban Renewal in Hong Kong: The Struggle for Social Cohesion

Urban Sustainability Problem (Land Use): In the past two decades, over 50 government-led redevelopment projects in Hong Kong have had negative and positive impacts on social and cultural bonds. With hundreds more slated for the future, the communities, heritage, and social cohesion are at risk of disappearing, threatening the city’s vision for sustainability.

Urban renewal is necessary for cities to maintain their functionality. The current approach in Hong Kong does not care for the people’s desires to see their cultural heritage live on into future generations.

Policy Recommendation: In order to maintain a cohesive social environment, Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Strategy should integrate a community-driven, bottom-up approach  to neighborhood regeneration and cultural heritage preservation.

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Project completed for the following course: SOS 494 – Urban Sustainability in Hong Kong
School of Sustainability

Instructed by: Dr. Rob Melnick and Dr. SHI Han

Dates of course: April 2015 – June 2015

Hong Kong has an aging building infrastructure, indicating needs for redevelopment as time goes on.

As buildings need to be updated and redeveloped, the cost of renting space increases. Many residents and businesses are pushed out of the city core because of affordability.

Some of the existing small shops owned by individuals in the Lee Tung Street area. Interviews showed us they are unsure if their businesses will remain in the face of redevelopment.

More vibrant street life in the historic shop area, where owners are convinced that future redevelopment is like a cancer that they are waiting to die from. (Real indirect quote from informal interview conducted in Cantonese.)

Amid all the redevelopment, 4 historic shops on Queen’s Road East were preserved while dozens around were demolished and rebuilt. There are multiple building phases yet to come in this area.

The foreground features a renovated historic building on Queen’s Road East, while looming in the background is a new high-rise development.

Building under construction next to remaining shops show the quickly changing streetscape in Hong Kong.

A complex problem deserves a complex solution, made up of 4 key elements. They amount to serving physical, social, political, and economic needs.

My portion of the solution is to create Heritage Preservation Zoning in the form of Districts, rather than just buildings. This would allow the Development/Planning Bureau of the HKSAR government to review the historic value of buildings before commissioning redevelopment projects by the Urban Renewal Authority. It would serve as an extra layer of policy protection.

Social cohesion and culture should have an economic value as Hong Kong upgrades its buildings. Just like trees are a long-term investment for cities with a positive return years down the road, maintaining local economy, social equity, and culture will be valuable if sustained into the future.