A case of Hong Kong

 Clearance of slums  Large-scale renewal projects  Provision of better public utilities  Encouragement of private investment  New town development  Rehabilitation of old buildings

 Squatter clearance  Self-help schemes  Urban renewal  Birth control and family planning  New town development  More balanced economic development  Improvement in transport network

 Urban renewal since Jan 1988  New town development since 1960s  Squatter clearance since 1980s  Housing policies

 Redevelopment  Rehabilitation  Revitalization  pReservation

 It can be done by both public and private sectors:  Public sector: government want to achieve objectives which may not be well served by functioning of the development market, e.g. considerations of land, safety, public health and housing adequacy, environmental conditions and infrastructure efficiency.  Land Development Corporation in Urban Renewal Authority in 2001 define overall planning and regional redevelopment approach + Housing Authority  Private sector: private sector redevelopment is a routine process taken by owners and developers with the aim of maximizing the financial returns on land ownership.

 It involves the demolition of buildings which are in danger of collapse / derelict / dilapidated / old / pre-war  Improved layouts and building design, levels of facility provision and land use interfaces can be achieved through comprehensive redevelopment.  Usually taken place in transitional zone like Wan Chai, Yau Tsim Mong, where land demand is high

 Early years: pulling down of individual buildings and rebuild it (pencil development)  lack of comprehensive planning  the general urban problems remained unsolved  Recent years: comprehensive approach, people-oriented approach, sustainable development concepts  a balance among economic, social and environmental concerns

 Characteristics of individual buildings  Under-utilization of the site  Poor condition of the building structure  Inadequate standard of building design   resolved by replacing individual buildings  Characteristics of localities  Exposure to noise and air pollution  Lack of local space  Inadequate local street network   restructuring of wider areas as well as the replacement of inadequate buildings

 13,900 buildings over 20 years old (24% private + 62% mixed C+R + 8% C + 7% I) in 2000  Of these, 7,000 buildings were in tolerable condition and 2,300 buildings were considered in need of treatment

 Acquisition of properties in multiple ownership (time + cost)  Compensation to tenants  Costs of land premiums  Resettlement policies  Redevelopment by private sector takes place generally in a piecemeal, unstructured fashion  resulting in scatter of high-rise blocks on small sites, interspersed among frontages of old buildings

 It does not necessarily deal with the worst buildings and many substandard buildings in poor condition remain untouched  Opportunities to assemble large sites within which significant improvements to land use arrangements might be effected are missed as the difficult and slow site assembly process discourages developers from attempting to assemble large sites  Many of the problems of the older residential areas arise from the sites not being large enough to accommodate parking and loading facilities, usable open space around the building or at podium level, or an attractive and environmentally acceptable relationship between buildings.

LocationNo. of scheme Total site area (ha) Existing flats New flatsNet change in flats Kowloon ,56141,544+22,983 Hong Kong293.31,8804,760+2,880 Tsuen Wan / Kwai Tsing Total ,44146,304+25,863

 Housing Authority has been redeveloping its older public rental estates since the 1980s as part of the Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme (CRP)

 It consists of activities to improve a building’s structural integrity and safety or enhance the physical characteristics of an area  It can be appropriate depending on the building’s degree of physical decay, though the ageing of the structure and possible need for eventual redevelopment must also be considered.

 This is considered cheaper and more effective than redevelopment as an urban renewal strategy when the need for demolition is not urgent  However, it requires the cooperation of all flat owners to repair and maintain the buildings  With the help of “Building Maintenance Incentive Scheme” by the Housing Society, the flat owner can repair the buildings with the subsidies of 20% to 30% of the total repair cost.

 Preservation of buildings does not involve the pulling down of buildings  URA has preserved for adaptive re-use many historic buildings in Wan Chai and Sheung, including 50 shophouses, 11 village buildings and market buildings.  In 2008, URA announced its Conservation Strategy with the aim to preserve additional pre- war verandah type shophouses through its voluntary acquisition and voluntary restoration schemes in the coming years

 High cost of maintenance of old buildings  Diverse public interest: the public want to keep the collective memories but the developers take solely financial considerations.  The means to develop eco-tourism are not practical enough for insufficient infrastructural support

 9 New Towns: ST, TP, TW, SS-FL, TM, YL, TSW, TC, TKO of 3 generations  2 New Development Areas (NDAs): Kwu Tung North + Fanling North, Hung Shui Kiu