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

Community FacilitiesSegregated by DesignSeveral of the URA projects photographed included GIC facilities such as offices for charities,community halls, and centres for the elderly, disabled, or young children. The governmentrequires the URA and the developer to build the community facilities and in exchange,they may be disregarded in GFA calculations. The facilities are usually located inside thepodiums of the developments, one interesting consequence being that community facilitiesare hidden from casual observers since they lack distinctive architectural markers indicatingtheir presence.Since GIC facilities provide no commercial benefit, they are often located in peripheralparts of the development with less foot traffic and separate entrances from the commercialfacilities. For example, the hostel for the disabled and the elderly day centre at Vision Citywas not accessible from inside the shopping centre but instead located on Yeung Uk Road, abusy road with mainly inactive frontages.99