reflections vol 1 / issue 1 / may 2012

SUSTAINABLECOMMUNITIES —FUTURE NEW TOWNSFOR HONG KONGInternational Symposium March 9th, 2012School of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

M.SC. (URBAN DESIGN) × CUHK

Comments from Keynote-Speakers:Colin Fournier, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCLRobert Powell, Architect and Eco Master PlannerPeter Rowe, GSD, Harvard University

Edited by Hendrik Tieben and Mika SavelaSchool of Architecture, CUHK

Vol. 1 / Issue 1 / May 2012

REFLECTIONS

REFLECTIONS

ReflectionsVolume 1 / Issue 1 / May 2012

© School of Architecture, CUHK

EditorsHendrik TiebenMika Savela

DesignMika Savela

Published bySchool of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong KongRoom 514, Wong Foo Yuan BuildingShatin, New TerrioriesHong Kong SAR, China

[email protected]: +852 3943 6583Fax: +852 2603 5267

All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISSN 2304-1625 (online)

Printed in Hong Kong

International Symposium March 9th, 2012School of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong Kong


REFLECTIONS

REFLECTIONS

Vol. 1 / Issue 1 / May 2012

2

This brochure is the first volume of the new series REFLECTIONS which is envisioned to record and disseminate the multiple views formulated in context of the new MSc in Urban Design pro-gramme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Volume 1 starts by gathering views on the first symposium: “Sustainable Communities – Future New Towns for Hong Kong” which was held on March 9th, 2012 at CUHK. The event was organized as part of the 20th Anniversary Celebration of CUHK’s School of Architecture and “kick off” for the new urban design programme. The invited speakers were academics and designers with relevant experiences in the field of urban design as well as representatives of the planning departments of Hong Kong SAR and Shenzhen who are actively engaged in shaping the two neighbouring cities.

The topic “Sustainable Communities - Future New Towns for Hong Kong” was formulated to start the debate with a controversial question: Is it still possible and desirable to plan new cities and districts, and what are the challenges and opportunities? In the West, the “New Towns” of the 20th century are widely regarded as failures; here, cities are considered as already built. The general demographics and resource distribution point towards urban re-generation rather than expansion. However, in other parts of the world, urbanization is continuing at high speed. In China, which accounts for the biggest portion of urban growth, in the last decade a series of “eco-cities” were planned as experiments for more sustainable development. But despite high ambitions, the results of these attempts often fall short, especially in regards of their ability to create sustainable com-munities. As urban growth here still continues, it deserves the attention of urbanists, policymakers, planners, and designers, to learn from mistakes. But it also gives an opportunity for fundamental reconsiderations on future ways of living.

Hong Kong is in many regards well placed for this re-envisioning of future cities: Its combination of extreme urban density and preserved country parks, its highly efficient public transport system and its general vibrancy make it a unique urban laboratory. While the longest established parts on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon have drawn much attention, its New Towns have been less explored. De-

INTRODUCTIONHendrik TiebenM.Sc. in Urban Design Programme DirectorSchool of Architecture, CUHK

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spite important shortcomings of some of the later new towns (especially Tin Shui Wai), others, such as Shatin, can be regarded as relatively successful especially when compared with new towns in the West and mainland China. In view of current attempts in Asia (and even in Hong Kong) to build entire cites and districts, Hong Kong’s experiences deserve our attention.

For the symposium, the case of the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area was selected which ac-cording to the HKSAR Government plan could become the biggest new development for the next decade with an anticipated number of 160,000 inhabitants. Considering this number of planned residents, in other parts of the world, we would speak not just about a “development area” but an entire big city.

Due to Hung Shui Kiu’s location in the far north-west of Hong Kong SAR, adjacent to Tin Shui Wai New Town and Shenzhen Bay, it offers opportunities to address the current isolation of Tin Shu Wai and reconsider Hong Kong’s relationship towards its neighbour Shenzhen. Using this case, the symposium raises the questions: What can we learn from Hong Kong’s earlier New Town planning and China’s recent eco-city experiments? How could the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area offer more diversity and vitality often missing in other new towns? How could its planning contribute to Hong Kong’s future relationship to Shenzhen and the PRD? And, how could the area become a more sustainable community?

The following texts collect comments of the key note speakers on the current planning framework and first ideas for Hung Shui Kiu and the design of New Towns in general. Hung Shui Kiu will remain a topic of the new MSc in Urban Design program, which will concentrate on Sustainable Communi-ties with focus alternating on existing and new urban areas. We hope that our new publication series will contribute to the urban debate in Hong Kong and beyond, and invite comments which can help to create more sustainable communities.

Hong KongMacau

Guangzhou

Zhuhai

ShenzhenJiangmen

Zhaoqing DongguanFoshan

Huizhou

Qingyuan

CUHK

Shenzhen

Hong Kong

4

Shenzhen

Lantau Island

HungShuiKiu

Airport VictoriaHarbour

PlannedHong Kong – Zhuhai –

Macao Bridge

ShenzhenBay

Bridge

TinShuiWai

PlannedHong Kong –

ShenzhenAirport Links

5

Hong Kong SAR

Hong Kong Island

Kowloon

New Territories

VictoriaHarbour

Bounday Line

CUHK

Tolo Harbour

8

Full List of Speakers Ernest ChuiAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Social Work & Social AdministrationThe University of Hong Kong

Chen Yi-xinDeputy Chief PlannerShenzhen Urban Planning & Land ResourcesCommission, Shenzhen Municipality

Colin FournierProfessor of Architecture and UrbanismBartlett School of ArchitectureUniversity College London

Puay-peng HoDirector, School of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Paul S. N. LeeDean, Faculty of Social ScienceThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Doreen LiuAdjunct Associate ProfessorSchool of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Robert PowellArchitect, Eco Master Planner

Peter RoweRaymond Garbe Professor of Architecture andUrban Design, Harvard UniversityHarvard University Distinguished Service Professor

Hendrik TiebenAssistant ProfessorSchool of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Raymond WongChief Town PlannerPlanning Department, Hong Kong SAR

Marisa YiuAssistant ProfessorSchool of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Zhang QiDean, School of Architecture and PlanningTianjin University

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202020thanniversarySCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE . CUHK

10

2:00 Registration and welcome Puay-peng Ho, Director, School of Architecture, CUHK

2:15 Session 1

Paul S. N. Lee, Dean, Faculty of Social Science, CUHK – Opening Address

Hendrik Tieben, School of Architecture, CUHK – Urban Design at CUHK

Raymond Wong, Planning Department, HKSAR Government – Current Policies and Future Plans

Ernest Chui, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, HKU – Tin Shui Wai: Unlearned Lessons

Colin Fournier, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL – Learning from Hong Kong: Sustainable Communities & Future New Towns for Hong Kong

(moderator Marisa Yiu)

4:00 Tea Break

4:45 Session 2

Robert Powell, Architect, Eco Master-Planner – Designing and Master-planning the Ecocity – The Hung Shui Kiu New Town Case Study

Chen Yi-xin, Chief Deputy Planner of Shenzhen – Emerging Significance of Connectivity of Houhai District (Shenzhen) with Hong Kong

Zhang Qi, School of Architecture and Planning, Tianjin University – Eco Cities in China

Peter Rowe, GSD, Harvard – District Making in China for the 21st Century: Breaking Old and Not So Old Habits

6:30 Round table discussion & final remarks (all participants / moderators Doreen Heng Liu and Hendrik Tieben)

Symposium Programme

International Symposium

March 9th, 2012 — Speakers


SUSTAINABLECOMMUNITIES —FUTURE NEW TOWNSFOR HONG KONG



March 9th, 2012, 2:00-7:00pm — Programme


2:15 Session 1




Ernest Chiu, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, HKU – Tin Shui Wai: Unlearned Lessons

Colin Fournier, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL – Sustainability and the Ideal City

4:00 Tea Break

4:45 Session 2





6:30 Roundtablediscussion&finalremarks (all participants / moderators Doreen Liu and Hendrik Tieben)

M.SC. (URBAN DESIGN) × CUHK M.SC. (URBAN DESIGN) × CUHK

MASTER OF SCIENCEIN URBAN DESIGNCHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONGNew programme 2012

Urban design plays a key role in creating livable, sustainable and socially just cities. As one of the most dynamic laboratories for contemporary urbanism, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta offer a wide range of challenges and opportunities.The new M.Sc. in Urban Design programme pre-pares committed designers to engage with these challenges.Through a combination of design stu-dios and focused modules, students develop design skills while integrating new knowledge about essential areas for urban design, such as community participation, ecosystems and transport networks. Courses in urban history and environmental economy provide a deeper understanding of the forces of urbanism and the impact of urban design on the environment and society.

The new M.Sc. in Urban Design programme is offered by the School of Architecture at the Chi-nese University of Hong Kong. It draws from the school’s 20 years experience in teaching and researchandwilluseitswellestablishedinternationalnetwork.Thetuitionfeeoftheself-financedprogramme is $115,000 for 2012-13 (12 months). The places for the programme are given based on the academic and professional merit of the application. Applicants should have an undergradu-ate or Master’s degree in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning or other related areas as well as relevant practical experience.

Contact: Ms. Bonnie MokProgrammeOfficertel. +852 2609 6586fax. +852 2603 [email protected]



March 9th, 2012, 2:00-7:00pm — Programme


2:15 Session 1




Ernest Chiu, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, HKU – Tin Shui Wai: Unlearned Lessons

Colin Fournier, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL – Sustainability and the Ideal City

4:00 Tea Break

4:45 Session 2





6:30 Roundtablediscussion&finalremarks (all participants / moderators Doreen Liu and Hendrik Tieben)

M.SC. (URBAN DESIGN) × CUHK M.SC. (URBAN DESIGN) × CUHK

MASTER OF SCIENCEIN URBAN DESIGNCHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONGNew programme 2012

Urban design plays a key role in creating livable, sustainable and socially just cities. As one of the most dynamic laboratories for contemporary urbanism, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta offer a wide range of challenges and opportunities.The new M.Sc. in Urban Design programme pre-pares committed designers to engage with these challenges.Through a combination of design stu-dios and focused modules, students develop design skills while integrating new knowledge about essential areas for urban design, such as community participation, ecosystems and transport networks. Courses in urban history and environmental economy provide a deeper understanding of the forces of urbanism and the impact of urban design on the environment and society.

The new M.Sc. in Urban Design programme is offered by the School of Architecture at the Chi-nese University of Hong Kong. It draws from the school’s 20 years experience in teaching and researchandwilluseitswellestablishedinternationalnetwork.Thetuitionfeeoftheself-financedprogramme is $115,000 for 2012-13 (12 months). The places for the programme are given based on the academic and professional merit of the application. Applicants should have an undergradu-ate or Master’s degree in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning or other related areas as well as relevant practical experience.

Contact: Ms. Bonnie MokProgrammeOfficertel. +852 2609 6586fax. +852 2603 [email protected]

15

SUSTAINABILITY ANDTHE IDEAL CITYColin Fournier

Introduction

The prospect of developing a new town in Hong Kong, In the North West New Territories, particu-larly a sustainable new town, is extremely challenging, for two reasons:

• Hong Kong already has a very high rating in terms of sustainability: Due to its hyperdensity, it is very economical in terms of its use of land resources; with a 90% use of public transportation (MTR, Trains, Trams, buses, minibuses, ferries) and an ecological footprint that is 10 times less than that of the average European city (and 30 times less than US cities), HK is an archetypal example of a “compact city”.

• It is still far from ideal: There is room for improvement, particularly when considering the new towns built so far, in terms of social and economic sustainability, environmental pollution, typological diversity, de-sign quality and historic conservation.

Within the broader context of the booming Pearl River Delta region, Hong Kong is still growing and is expected to continue to grow by another 25% in the next 25 years, from 7.1 to 8.9 million inhabit-ants. Up to now, it has grown in three ways:

• Infill and regeneration within its existing urban fabric (Hong Kong island, Mong Kok, the old Kai Tak airport site, etc…)

• Land reclamation (along the South and North shores of Victoria Straights, particularly West Kowloon)

• New towns within the New Territories.

Hong Kong will continue to grow in these three distinct ways, although, hopefully, land reclamation will finally come to an end soon, but it is very encouraging that the proposal for Hung Shui Kiu to become an NDA (New Development Area) has been reactivated, after many years of postpone-ment, providing Hong Kong with an opportunity to demonstrate what its next generation of new towns might be.

Because of the reputation established by Hong Kong as an environmentally efficient compact city, the whole world is watching what it will do next and I have taken up, at the invitation of Professor Puay-Peng Ho, a position as Visiting Professor at CUHK for the next academic year, specifically in order to engage with the students in research and design projects dealing with the Hung Shui Kiu NDA, by taking part in the new M.Sc. in Urban Design programme directed by Hendrik Tieben.

At the symposium, some initial concepts were suggested for the planning of the Hung Shui Kiu NDA. My observations are as follows:

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1 Statement of goals for the new town

Hung Shui Kiu is an opportunity to state new goals for a 21st century new town. I would suggest that there are two categories of goals:

• To set even higher goals of sustainability, certainly to do better than the new towns that have been developed so far in the New Territories, and even better than the original core of Hong Kong:

- To make even better use of the advantages of compactness

- To continue to develop efficient transportation systems

- To be more energy efficient

- To overcome the current problems with atmospheric pollution and become more environmentally healthy

- To encourage diversified land uses and employment opportunities

- To be a more socially balanced and equitable urban environment

• To go beyond sustainability criteria, to ask, fundamentally, as all new town projects have done throughout history, what makes an Ideal City?

- Greater diversity of building typology

- Greater sense of place, identity, legibility, uniqueness

- Higher design quality

The goals defined in any new town developments need to be examined on the basis of a critique of current sustainable urban projects and of new towns in general. Most contemporary development projects claim to search for sustainability. The claim is made by major projects, such as the ill-fated Dong Tang project by ARUP next to Shanghai, the Masdar project by Foster in Abu Dhabi, and by many other less publicised projects. Some have been very successful, such as, amongst many others, Curitiba in Brazil or Freiburg in Germany, others less so. On the whole, although every-body agrees on the principles, it is fair to say that there is no project yet that objectively meets the extremely broad and demanding “triple bottom line” goals of sustainability. Why is that? The Hung Shui Kiu NDA project is an opportunity to answer this question by undertaking a critical analysis of current sustainable design projects world-wide, drawing lessons from this critique, initiating the development of systematic evaluation models for sustainability and making sure that it becomes a truly successful eco-city.

It will also be important to evaluate the existing Hong Kong new towns, focusing on the second generation of new towns that were started in the early seventies, including Sha Tin and in particular the three new towns that surround the site of Hung Shui Kiu: Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and the ill-fated Tin Shui Wai, which, because of its critical social difficulties, has become known as “misery” town. In general, both internationally and locally, new towns have usually failed to become anything more than “dormitory cities” dependant, in terms of employment, culture and entertainment, on the major city that sprouted them and unable to develop their economic autonomy, sense of place and identity. This is also true, on the whole, of Hong Kong’s new towns.

Lessons must be learned from this research that would help to make Hung Shui Kiu successful in starting the “next generation” of new towns.

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2 The site of the new town

The site, located in the North West New Territories, lies half way between the existing new towns of Tuen Mun and Tin Shui Wai.

It is far from being a “clean slate” and will not be an easy site to develop because of the complexity of the land ownership conditions: 21% of the site is occupied by existing villages that need to be preserved and there are many developments that have already been committed. In addition, what is particularly striking about the existing land uses on the site is the presence of several container storage areas. These activities, known as PBU (port back-up uses), are extensive and have a nega-tive environmental impact (noise, pollution and heavy traffic).

In terms of its natural features, it is a relatively flat site with no outstanding areas of natural beauty. However, it has two positive natural assets:

• To the North, it is separated from Deep Bay by a marshy area which, in the adjacent new town of Tin Shui Wai, has successfully been turned into the “Hong Kong Wetland Park”: A similar approach could successfully be implemented on this part of the new town site.

• To the West, it is bounded by the hills of the Lau Fau Shan natural reserve area: these hills are covered with lush vegetation and provide very pleasant distant views that can be enjoyed over the whole of the NDA site.

The greatest potential of the site lies in its proximity to Shenzhen, making this part of the New Ter-ritories a natural gateway between Hong Kong and its region.

3 The conceptual Masterplan

The preliminary urban design concept that has been presented at the symposium so far proposes, at the strategic level, two key ideas:

• A landscape loop that seeks to unify the disparate elements of the site. Although kept deliber-ately sketchy at this early phase, this concept is good in that it potentially would give the site a legible, overall structure that would unite and give coherence to its many disparate parts. The organic geometry of this proposed landscape park is reminiscent of the “cinematic prom-enade” of the Parc de la Villette project in Paris, which was also intended to unite a complex site condition.

• The second idea is that the seed of the new town could be a TOD (Transit Oriented Develop-ment), comprised of high density urban cores clustered around the two proposed new railway stations: a new station on the existing West Rail Line and a new station for the proposed WEL (Western Express Line) linking the Hung Shiu Kiu NDA to Shenzhen. The development of such a major transport hub, together with the dense urban development that would come with it, would indeed be very important in securing the success of the NDA.

These two key strategic concepts would give the Hung Shiu Kiu NDA the potential of establishing a new intensive and dense pole of activity that would be highly interconnected and would give it a strong dual role in the region:

• It would become the key gateway of connection between the booming economy of Shenzhen and the North West New Territories and therefore between Hong Kong and the PRC.

• It would provide a common catalyst and economic hub to reactivate the surrounding new towns of Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai that are currently suffering from a lack of economic stimulus and socio-economic diversity.

The Hung Shui Kiu NDA project will also provide an opportunity to examine alternative building typologies to those that have been built in Hong Kong in recent years. It seems that after many

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Colin Fournier was born in 1944, is of Franco-British origin and was educated at the Architectural Association (AA) in London. He is Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL), where he is Director of the Master of Architecture Course in Urban Design (MArch UD). He is an architect and planner in private practice, based in London. His interests and professional activities are split equally between architecture and urban-ism. He was an associate member of the famous experimental design group Archigram Architects and was for many years the Planning Director of the Ralph M. Parsons Company in Pasadena, Cali-fornia, USA, in which capacity he has designed and implemented a number of major urban design projects in the Middle East, in particular the new town of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia. He subsequently worked in partnership with Bernard Tschumi on the planning and design of the Parc de la VIllette in Paris. He is, together with his partner Sir Peter Cook, the co-author of the Graz Kunsthaus, a radical museum of modern art in the city of Graz, Austria, that was completed in 2003 as part of the “cultural capital of the year” programme, and has received a considerable amount of international recognition. The Austrian Goldener Ehrenzeichen medal was awarded to him in 2005 by the Gov-ernor of Styria for his role as Partner in Charge of this project. He has recently won, in collabora-tion with co-authors Professor Volker Giencke and Petra Friedl, the international competition for a major urban extension of Riga, the capital of Latvia.

years of evolution, the Hong Kong built form typology got progressively “locked”, as T. Kvan, J. Ka-rakiewicz and B. Shelton have demonstrated in their recent book “The Making of Hong Kong”, into a dominant “podium + tower” typology that needs to be re-examined. Such a built form is “extruded 2D” rather that 3D, whereas Hong Kong has the opportunity, given its density and given its radical design precedents in Central, to develop a truly three-dimensional form of urbanism.

Conclusion

It is to be hoped that the Hung Shui Kiu NDA project will produce a varied mix of radical proposals for the future, not only in terms of their potential sustainability but also in terms of broader intentions that could make of Hung Shui Kiu an “ideal city” on a par with Hong Kong: aesthetics, distinctive identity, sense of place, generosity, even excess: Hong Kong’s extraordinary attraction as a city comes partly from the fact that it is excessive: excessively high, excessively dense, excessively crowded, excessively luminous at night, excessively glamorous, and that such excess is expected of it. The importance of excess in the life of a city, the notion that a city is a place where a surplus is generated and consumed by the community, is essential, a natural desire that must not be re-pressed.

Hong Kong’s new towns have, up to now, been too bland, homogeneous and restrained: Hung Shui Kiu must be not only sustainable but also memorable: it must aim to be an ideal city.

22

ON THE PROPOSEDHUNG SHUI KIUNEW DEVELOPMENT AREARobert Powell

What came across most cogently from the talk of Ms Chen, Yixin of the Urban Planning, Land & Re-sources Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, and other contributions was the relentless pressure from social and economic integration, that will in time, appear to seamlessly merge Hong Kong with the motherland. And unlike the fall of the Berlin Wall where political impetus brought about a rather incidental and certainly less-than-planned national merger that was profoundly disruptive, here in Hong Kong, you do have the benefit of foresight.

I note that the Hong Kong government has enough on its plate in planning for the needs of the Hong Kong people where Hung Shui Kiu will be instrumental to the ongoing agenda for meeting housing, employment and other social needs. It is well understood that the increasingly middle-class China across the border, especially at the Nanshan, Qianhai and Houhai areas, will certainly have a sig-

23

nificant impact to the greater Hong Kong planning strategy, not least on Hung Shui Kiu. Putting this into perspective, the targeted population at Hung Shui Kiu NDA is around 200,000 distributed over an area of about 790ha, while the combined Qianhai and Houhai areas will house about 387,000 people over an area of about 1930ha, with a working population of more than 800,000 adding im-mensely to the density. There is no denying the likelihood of affluent mainlanders who may see Hung Shui Kiu as a rather attractive place to live, albeit probably as second homes. It would appear that the case for planning for a larger targeted population at Hung Shui Kiu will be rather compelling.

According to my knowledge, 65% of the land at Hung Shui Kiu is privately owned, with the Hong Kong government only owning some 35%. Reading from this, it must be apparent that private devel-opers will have a pivotal role in helping government to shape the Hung Shui Kiu community, where the developers will be looking to meet both the needs of Hong Kong and demands from across the border. Not unlike a Catch-22 situation, the better planned Hung Shui Kiu is, the more attractive it will become not only to the Hong Kong people but also to residents from across the border, thus adding to the pressure within Hung Shui Kiu for greater government investments on infrastructures, and on social and community facilities, which in turn will further enhance Hung Shui Kiu’s attractive-ness. Naturally this is not an ad-infinitum situation where there is no limit to how much development that can be sustained within Hung Shui Kiu. Nevertheless it is a rather sobering thought when we contemplate how we may all set out to aim high and do good only to be victims of our success.

Outtakes from the Hung Shiu Kiu case study © Robert Powell

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Robert Powell was Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the National University of Singapore from 1984 to 2001. His main area of expertise is in EcoMasterplanning having worked on numerous master planning projects many of which incorporating ecocity planning initiatives and environmental sustainability considerations , including the conceptual masterplan for ZOR-LU a mixed-use development in Istanbul, Turkey; a conceptual masterplan for Dubai Waterfront; Harefield Hospital Masterplan in UK; KBZF Medical Centre Abu Dhab; Qatar Airways Village in Doha; and King Abdullah City in Saudi Arabia. He is currently working on a masterplan for a town-ship in Mosul, Iraq.

In my talk, I propagated the adoption of an ecocity planning approach based on the overlapping 4 main infrastructures. Under this methodology, the Red Infrastructure concerning human and social considerations, is perhaps the most variable of the factors, a point that is perhaps repeatedly sub-stantiated in the Hong Kong situation where the influx of mainland tourists, consumers, immigrants and even mothers, have posed a rather challenging problem for Hong Kong. However, the pro-posed ecocity planning approach for Hung Shui Kiu precisely brings all of these factors and more into the fold, providing a framework for balancing developments incorporating the Green (landscap-ing and ecology) Infrastructure, the Blue (water management) Infrastructure, the Grey (engineer-ing) Infrastructure and the Red (human) Infrastructure. This balancing act can appropriately take cognizance of the distribution of densities and activities related to the various infrastructures tailored to the various localities within Hung Shui Kiu NDA. I should add that this approach is not premised upon compromise, but is in fact predicated on an informed and measured action that is compre-hensively considered, with an intended desired outcome in mind, not least of which is sustainability.

I am sure that nothing I have said above is new to you, but I sincerely hope that in presenting my views not only at the symposium but also hopefully in this supplementary letter, I have achieved my aim in highlighting a consolidated perspective for the planning of future new towns.

29

ON THE PROPOSEDHUNG SHUI KIUNEW DEVELOPMENT AREAPeter Rowe

The symposium dealing with the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area in the northwest of the New Territories of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong raised several notable issues and suggested several potentially important directions.

First, among the presentations there seemed to be some confusion between the building of ‘new towns’ or ‘new areas’ and providing solutions to housing problems, especially of an affordable kind. The Tin Shui Wai case study and its characterization as a ‘city of sadness’ highlighted the well-known problem of massing together poorer households and placing them in low-income housing. Instead, mixed-income housing should be pursued and cross-subsidies provided to mitigate invidi-ous socio-economic distinctions among inhabitants. Further, policies should favor more piece-meal redevelopment and intensification of existing, relatively well developed areas of Hong Kong, a practice that happily seems to be at least a part of plans moving forward.

Second, to be sure, Shenzhen has probably learned from Hong Kong in its development as sug-gested in this symposium. However, the outcome of the Hung Shui Kiu area seems likely to be significantly influenced by its proximity and bridge linkage to newly developing areas of Shenzhen, which are, if anything, rather upscale in their likely development and habitation. This, in turn, sug-gests an occupant profile for Hung Shui Kiu that is similar in kind. It also suggests development of a complementary profile for the new area development of residential neighborhoods, commercial activities and service functions.

Third, in addition to ‘sustainability’, further development of Hung Shui Kiu should be guided towards physical compactness, programmatic diversity and a distinctive identity. Indeed, given the substan-tial government-owned holdings within the NDA, the economic and social elements of ‘sustain-ability’ may require some focus than the ostensibly ‘green’ aspects mentioned by other speakers.

Fourth, a key aspect of any plan will need to be relocation and clean-up of what appear to be marginal industrial and warehousing sites. Again, in the fullness of time, plans for port and on-and-off-loading facilities in Shenzhen seem to offer better alternative sites. Further, the phasing of redevelopment of the ‘new area’ will likely be crucial to its successful outcome, including the sizing and programming of various development increments and infrastructural support.

Peter G. Rowe is the Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard Uni-versity and a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He served as Dean of the Gradu-ate School of Design at Harvard from 1992 to 2004, and was Chairman of the Urban Planning and Design Department from 1988 until 1992, and Director of the Urban Design Programs from 1985 until 1990. Prior to Harvard, Rowe served as the Director of the School of Architecture at Rice University from 1981 and also directed many multi-disciplinary research projects through the Rice Center, where he was Vice President from 1978 onwards, and at the Southwest Center for Urban Research.


MASTER OF SCIENCEIN URBAN DESIGNCHINESE UNIVERSITY OFHONG KONG

Urban design plays a key role in creating livable, sustainable and socially just cities. As one of the most dynamic laboratories for contemporary urbanism, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta offer a wide range of challenges and opportunities. The new M.Sc. in Urban Design programme is offered by the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and will address these conditions. The programme draws from the school's 20 years experience in teach-ing and research and will use its well established international network. The tuition fee of the self-financed programme is HK$115,000 for 2012-13 (12 months). The places for the programme are given based on the academic and professional merit of the application. Applicants should have an undergraduate or Master's degree in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning or other related areas as well as relevant practical experience

For more information contact:Ms. Bonnie MokProgramme Officertel. +852 3943 6586fax. +852 2603 [email protected]

School of ArchitectureThe Chinese University of Hong KongRoom 514, Wong Foo Yuan BuildingShatin, New TerritoriesHong Kong SAR, China

New Programme 2012

www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/urbandesign

reflections vol 1 / issue 1 / may 2012

Documents

new cities

new urban design programme

new msc

urban design cuhkcomments

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new terriorieshong kong

urban regeneration

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