Treating the Symptoms - A Critical Review of ... - Civic Exchange

Top: A naturally gentrified street in SoHo (Staunton Street), small everyday shops like the oneon the right are being gradually displaced by trendy new boutiques and restaurants.Bottom: hoarding of the URA/Nan Fung H17 project in Wan Chai, advertising the developmentas stylish and exclusiveGentrificationGentrification is a market-driven process whereby a neighbourhood becomes popular andattracts wealthier residents who upgrade the buildings, drive up property prices, and displacethe original inhabitants. The debate over gentrification is contentious; some argue thatgentrification should be avoided because it reduces social capital by displacing people, whileothers argue that gentrification is the natural process by which cities regenerate themselves.100The URA has sporadically entered the gentrification debate in an inconsistent, self-justifyingmanner. On the one hand, it praised the gentrification of Mong Kok West catalyzed byits Langham Place development. It described upward pressure on surrounding propertyprices as a positive process of economic revitalization. 193 On the other hand, it portrayed thesame naturally occurring process in Central as a threat to Graham Street Market, therebypositioning its comprehensive redevelopment of the area as a solution to protect the marketfrom displacement. 194On the whole, its policy has consistently been one of replacing lower-value land uses withhigher-value ones, which has drawn criticism from social workers, community activists, andheritage activists. Large-scale government backed gentrification is more disruptive than themarket-driven kind because it occurs all at once rather than gradually, and in large blocksrather than in small pieces. It raises questions of equity if the original residents of a districtcannot afford the new flats or shops.Gradual gentrification is actually quite rare in Hong Kong due to the high land price policydiscussed in Part II, and is limited to prime locations such as SoHo (South of HollywoodRoad) in Central, Causeway Bay, and parts of Mong Kok.