TABLE OF CONTENTS - The Professional Green Building Council

Theme B: Creating a livable, healthy and environmentally viable cities1. INTRODUCTIONExtremities in density in the built-up environment brings along undesirable sideeffects of congestion, pollutions, heat island, and visual discomfort. Dominated byhighrise buildings, Hong Kong is one of the cities with the highest density in theworld. With a population at about 6.94 million and a total area of 1104 squarekilometres, the city supports a density of 6420 people per square kilometer mostlyconcentrated in the built up area [1]. On a net site basis, some of our private orpublic residential development, it can be more than 5,000 persons per hectare [2].At 2007, the Hong Kong Housing Authority has a portfolio of about 680,000public rental flats housing one-third of the population in Hong Kong. The physicalsize, height and density of the built urban fabric contributed by public and privatedevelopment poses strong physical impact on the environment which is irrevocable.The 21th century cities in the world demand a strong agenda to confront thechallenges posed by rapid urban growth.Whilst architects, planners, engineers and environmental specialists in the worldare mapping out environmental strategies for virgin developments in various scales,equally important is the need to improve and transform the environmentalconditions of completed and ongoing development constrained by planningdensities. In the context of public housing development, design for comfort, healthand livability[3]is the vision for enhanced functionality and efficiency as wemigrate from the recovery of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003.Solutions are many, this paper focuses on the goals and strategies to replenish andrecreate the ecological balance and symbiotic existence between man and nature[4], human and other living system, built form and bio-climate at aregional/community scale.184