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

The Local Context:Evolving Community ValuesUrban design must be tailored to local situations. The factors that make one city successfulmay not work in another, and different cities face different problems. For example, due toits extremely compact high-rise urban form, Hong Kong faces problems such as the “streetcanyon effect” that other lower-rise cities do not. There is much that is unique about HongKong’s development history and built environment, setting it apart from Western cities andeven other Asian cities.When applying urban design principles to Hong Kong, we must also refer to local priorities,values, and needs. What kind of a city do people want? As in North America and Europe,the answer is bound up in historical context. It is also a moving target as community valueschange and evolve.Modern-day Hong Kong can be said to have grown up in the half-century after WorldWar II, when Hong Kong became a haven for people fleeing war, political turmoil, andfamine in Mainland China. The pre-war population was 1.6 million, and by 1960 hadreached 3 million, by 1997 it was 6.4 million. The population has since stabilized at around7 million thanks to rising prosperity on the Mainland and a low native birth rate. 4 Betweenthe end of the war and the 1970s, Hong Kong transformed from a trading post into a lightmanufacturing centre and the busiest shipping hub in the world; then when factories movedacross the border in the 1980s, it again transformed into an advanced service economy andregional financial centre.With this break-neck pace of development, economic growth and the provision of adequateinfrastructure had to come first, while social, cultural, and environmental concerns took aback seat. Regulations and government policies were aimed at accommodating rapid growth.For example, a memo by the Director of Public Works in 1951 in preparation for a revisionof the Buildings Ordinance to allow development to a higher density stated plainly: “lowerstandards of accommodation may be necessary.” 5 Building regulations were relaxed in 1956to allow a much higher density of building. Urban design regulations governing the design,materials, and facades of buildings are notably absent in Hong Kong; the only firm designcontrols apply to plot ratio, site coverage, and sometimes height. Legislation protectinghistorical buildings was introduced relatively late (1971), and is limited in scope comparedto other jurisdictions. The rapidly changing skyline was accepted as a fact of life, and HongKong retains few of its colonial-style buildings and pre-war vernacular buildings.With the horizontal expansion of the city restricted by Hong Kong’s leasehold land tenuresystem (see Part II) and indigenous land rights, reclamation had long provided a politicallyand fiscally convenient source of land to accommodate development. Small-scale reclamationBox 1What is Urban Design?Urban design is a branch of urban planning that deals with the form,function and arrangement of buildings, streets, public open spaces,amenities, transportation, and services. It incorporates architecture,landscaping, planning and social issues to focus on “place-making” —theart of creating and maintaining vibrant and meaningful public spaces.Urban design was once indistinguishable from planning andarchitecture, as city designers focused mainly on the physical andaesthetic aspects of cities. In the 20th century, architecture andplanning diverged as the former concentrated on designing individualbuildings, while the latter moved towards broader issues of land use,infrastructure, and urban development. As a modern discipline, urbandesign arose in the 1950s to fill the neglected space in between. Criticslike Jane Jacobs argued that Modernist architecture and planning hadcreated sterile, inhumane, and crime-ridden public spaces.Urban designers think about the interplay of physical and social factorsin public urban spaces. Physical factors include the structure anddensity of city blocks, their accessibility (how easy it is for people toget to and from places), their legibility (how easy it is to find one’s way),their aesthetics, and the mixture of architectural forms and land uses.Social factors include the character, history, and local significance ofneighbourhoods, as well as the specific ways in which spaces areused by people. Urban designers seek to foster public spaces thatare conducive to social interaction, civic activity, and communitybuilding.In recent decades, they have also become more concernedwith environmental sustainability, and the relationship of the city tothe natural environment. Issues such as air quality, water pollution,energy efficiency and carbon footprints have become important.7