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

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According to town planner Ian Brownlee, the vast majority of building rehabilitations are doneby the private sector without any assistance from the URA, such as this gentrified building inSoHo.PreservationThe challenge for the URA has been to find a way to carry out historical preservation withinthe constraints of a commercial business strategy. The URA Ordinance did not create anyspecific mechanisms for conducting preservation, and the URA is offered little support byHong Kong’s existing policies and legislation.108Hong Kong only gives legal protection to declared monuments (currently 84); its system oflisting other historical structures by the Antiquities and Monuments Office is non-statutoryand confers no legal protection. There are essentially no formalized systems of compensationor subsidies for the preservation of listed buildings (except for declared monuments), whichgives private owners no financial incentive to preserve them. 201 If the government wishes topreserve a building, it usually buys it. There are obvious disadvantages to this strategy becausethe government becomes responsible for maintaining and finding uses for it. Since February2008, the government has tried to recruit non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to takeon government-owned historical buildings. 202 Finally, Hong Kong’s preservation legislationfocuses only on individual buildings, and not on neighbourhoods or districts. Only veryrecently has the Development Bureau begun to consider district-wide preservation at anadministrative level for old parts of Wan Chai. 203It is within this context that the URA has been charged with preserving structures of historicaland cultural interest. This means that it has had to find ways to make historical preservationcommercially viable, or to subsidize it with profits from redevelopment. One strategy it haspursued is to bundle preservation with redevelopment projects, so that a few buildings areselected for preservation within a wider scheme of redevelopment. The URA has also takenon a few pure preservation projects, subsidized out of its surpluses.In both cases, the usual policy is for the URA to resume the properties from their existingowners. They are then restored and rented out to commercial tenants. A full list of the URA’scompleted and proposed heritage projects can be found in Appendix 2.
KENNEDY STREETA map of redevelopment and bundled heritage projects in Wan Chai. Far more area has been redeveloped than preserved.Heritage BundlingThe main preservation strategy used by the URA has been to bundle small scale preservationprojects with larger redevelopment projects. This has been used mainly in Wan Chai, butalso in Yau Ma Tei, Sheung Wan, and Nga Tsin Wai Village. Profits from the redevelopmentare used to subsidize the preservation, and new commercial or community uses are found forthe preserved buildings. While this approach succeeds in preserving individual buildings orsmall clusters of buildings, the scale of the adjacent redevelopment is such that the area nolonger retains its original character. Hong Kong has yet to devise preservation policies thatoperate on a neighbourhood-wide scale.18 Ship StreetSHIP STREETNJ-ResidenceTAI WONG STREETThe PawnSWATOW STREET186-190Queen’s Road EastSouthornPlaygroundJOHNSTON ROADAMOY STREETKeyRedevelopmentBundled preservationStand-alone preservationPartial preservationPublic open spaceLEE TUNG STREETSPRING GARDEN LANELee TungStreet ProjectMcGregorStreetProjectMCGREGOR STREETQUEEN’S ROAD EASTTAI YUEN STREETCROSS STREETLANETAI WO STREETThe ZenithSTONE NULLAHBlue House/King Sing HouseWan Chai Market
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The Local Context:Evolving Communit
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Hong Kong Urban Design ConcernsHong
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12In 1998, the Planning Department
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Part I:14The URA —A Redevelopment
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Version 2:The Urban RenewalAuthorit
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URA Ordinance vs.Urban Renewal Stra
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How The URA WorksThe Cycle ofResump
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PART II:22The PoliticalEconomyof th
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The Institutional ContextNationaliz
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26traditionally given the Lands Dep
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28maximum allowable plot ratio —
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Left: Multi-ownership with inadequa
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Weak building maintenanceregulation
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Lack of FinancingOne significant pr
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Left: Graham Streetrequirement. 137
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Left: Graham Streetthe 1970s to ind
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From the point of view of private d
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The Built EnvironmentPart I discuss
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Left: The K11 shopping mall, hotel,
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Box 4Calculating Plot RatioPlot rat
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50Standardized ArchitectureStandard
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Left: Langham Place, blank facade o
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56Figure-ground diagram of Langham
Page 58 and 59: 58This page: Footbridge network ove
Page 61: Left: Wo Tik Street - the only acti
Page 65 and 66: Public Open Spaces and Pedestrian P
Page 67 and 68: The MertonThe Merton in Kennedy Tow
Page 69 and 70: Left: The widened pavement along Sh
Page 71 and 72: Langham PlaceThere are often paveme
Page 73 and 74: Recreational Public Open SpacesQuan
Page 75: Hanoi Road K11 Open SpaceSize: 1,20
Page 78 and 79: 78Clockwise from left: The ground f
Page 81 and 82: The MertonTotal size (sites A and B
Page 83 and 84: General ObservationsLandscapingGene
Page 85: The URA also announced that it had
Page 88 and 89: Box 6The Counterproductive Pursuito
Page 91 and 92: Opposite, clockwise from top right:
Page 93 and 94: Social ImpactSocially sustainable d
Page 96 and 97: Left: Western Market has become pri
Page 98 and 99: 98This spread from left: This anony
Page 100 and 101: Top: A naturally gentrified street
Page 102 and 103: 102Comprehensive redevelopment disp
Page 104 and 105: 104Luxury shopping at the K11 mall
Page 106 and 107: 106A building rehabilitated by the
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Page 112 and 113: 112Wan Chai Market. Built in 1937,
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Page 118 and 119: 118Conclusion
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Page 122 and 123: Appendix 1Name of projectAddress/lo
Page 124 and 125: Name of projectAddress/locationArea
Page 126 and 127: 126Endnotes1 HKSAR Planning Departm
Page 128 and 129: 128110 Chan, B. W. (2002), “The h
Page 130: Room 701, Hoseinee House,69 Wyndham
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