How will Hong Kong have changed in 10 years time? We look at the plans currently underway. By HK Staff.

Picture the scene. You’re standing on the Central waterfront, and something’s not quite right. There are vast swathes of empty space but the area is deserted. Turn to your right and you see a six-lane highway cutting across where Queen’s Pier used to be. On reflection, you realize much else has changed in Hong Kong. Graham Street market has been demolished to make way for a hotel, offices and residential blocks. Kai Tak is home to a cruise terminal, which is cut off from the mainland by a highway. Sneaker Street in Mongkok has been replaced by a mall. Lantau is almost unrecognizable with tourist-friendly hotels springing up and the Macau-Zuhai-Hong Kong Bridge increasing traffic to the area. Kwun Tong has transformed from a dilapidated tenement area to a new town with a ninety-storey tower.

This is what Hong Kong will look like in a decade’s time. If it sounds confusing, that’s because the government—for all its ambition—has no overall plan to ensure that the city is revitalized in a harmonious, coherent way. “The problem with Hong Kong’s urban renewal projects is that they lack a cohesive plan”, says Paul Zimmerman of Designing Hong Kong. He cites government bureaucracy as a major factor when it comes to poor town planning. As it stands, different departments claim their stakes on land with a singular objective: looking after their own interests. “Urban planning is put together backwards here,” says Zimmerman. “The engineers and road builders dictate the plan by laying roads, and everyone else has to work around them. If you visit areas such as Tai Kok Tsui, Yau Ma Tei and West Kowloon, the streets are dead, and you can see the same thing starting to happen in Kai Tak and Lantau.”

Indeed. The future may not be that rosy. Patrick Lau— the legislator representing the architectural, surveying and planning sectors—agrees that the government needs to take a wider, longer-term view to redevelopment. “Currently, urban renewal focuses mainly on blocks, not the whole region. But if you take the larger area into consideration, you can see where the town center should be and locate the traffic flow in a more comprehensive way.”

“Governments all over the world have organizational problems, with different departments controlling different areas with little or no communication,” adds Zimmerman. “The main problem in Hong Kong is that no single body oversees all the other bureaus related to town planning such as The Highways Ordinance, the Transport Department or the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. What we need is for our Development Secretary to be on the same level as the Finance Secretary or the Chief Secretary. Our current Secretary for Development, Carrie Lam, just doesn’t have enough jurisdiction,” he says.

Then there’s the matter of how cramped and unappealing these new buildings are. Architect Oren Tatcher cites our commodity-driven property market as the main culprit. “The problem is that our entire culture sees property as a commodity rather than a place to live. Private speculators, big property developers and the government all have a stake in ever-increasing property values, measured in monetary terms rather than contribution to quality of life. As a result, the dynamics of the market are to tear down the old and replace it with something bigger, and not necessarily better, in order to generate profit,” he says. “Architecture is reduced to a repetitive formula and public space becomes residual rather than something created by design.”
With this in mind, we take a look at ten projects that stand to radically change Hong Kong over the next decade.

The Central Waterfront

The big patch of reclaimed land stretching between the Central Ferry Piers to the Convention and Exhibition Centre will be the new Central waterfront. But so far it promises to be a no-fun zone, with government plans for the area revealing nothing but dull, empty plazas. “Nowhere are there plans for a place where you can sit right on the water,” says Zimmerman. “There’s no activity, no interaction with the environment. Open spaces in themselves do not generate activity; we need cafes and places for people to enjoy in order for the area to become dynamic.”

Perhaps the biggest controversy, however, is the six-lane highway (named P2) set to bring heavy traffic through the area and block the reassembling of Queen’s Pier in its original location. “There’s no question that some kind of road needs to be built,” says Zimmerman, “but does it need to be so big? A better way would be to build a tunnel in front of the ferry piers and IFC Two that would go through to North Point, connecting to the Island Eastern corridor.”

Graham Street Market

In a decade’s time, after the redevelopment of the area, the oldest existing street market and its unique character will no longer exist. What you will see instead at Graham, Peel and Gage Streets are two residential blocks, an office complex and a hotel. An “old shop street” will display legendary Hong Kong brands and a two-storey building will accommodate the shops that were once the cornerstone of the street market. The Urban Renewal Authority say they will provide space for hawkers to carry on their business, but most experts agree that the hawkers will be gone once the people have moved out. Even if any of them do move back in, the street’s vibrant character will have vanished, overshadowed by hulking skyscrapers. Good luck finding any trace of the old market in ten years.

Aberdeen / Western District

Finally, people in the Southern and Western districts can enjoy the convenience of the MTR. The West Island line will run from Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town via Sai Ying Pun and University of Hong Kong, shortening the communte from 23 minutes to 8 minutes. As for the South Island Line, it will run from Admiralty to Ap Lei Chau with stations at Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang and Lei Tung Estate. Inevitable in both districts is a big jump in property prices and the appearance of new residential blocks. Just imagine Aberdeen becoming the new Taikoo Shing and Western District the new Sheung Wan.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Right now you can take a ferry across the harbor to Tsim Sha Tsui, then conveniently hop on a bus at the terminus right opposite. Enjoy it while you can. The terminus will soon be moved east towards Chatham Road, to make way for an open piazza for art and cultural activities. Meanwhile, the waterfront will no longer be skyscraper-free. A super-high 70-storey hotel will be built at New World Centre, and another 96-storey monolith further inland on Hanoi Road. The two will block out Lion’s Rock by a further 20 to 30 percent, according to green group Green Sense. Finally, the nearby Old Marine Police Headquarters will become a boutique hotel with a giant block behind it housing yet more luxury brands.

West Kowloon

In ten years, this is supposed to become the place to go for any art event, be it a ballet performance, hip-hop dance-off or Monet exhibition. 15 art venues (with a range of 250 to 15,000 seats) will sit by side. They just haven’t figured out how it’s all meant to come about yet. You’ll also be heading to West Kowloon if you’re planning a trip to Guangzhou, as it’s where the terminus for the future Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (shortening the transportation time between Guangzhou and Hong Kong to 48 minutes) will be.

Sneaker Street, Mong Kok

Gone will be the days of zipping across from store to store on the portion of Sai Yee Street better known as Sneaker Street, hunting for the best bargains. By 2013, the URA will have redeveloped it into a “Sport Retail City,” a multi-storey shopping center filled with sports stores and located at the bottom of huge residential blocks intended for the area. There will also be a Sports Hall of Fame displaying local achievement. In short, it’s another shopping centre in Mongkok, at the expense of a unique fixture of the area.

Kai Tak

The most recent plans for the old airport area envision a sports stadium, a cruise terminal, a metropolitan park and several residential blocks. Unfortunately, the “build roads first, plan the town later” approach means that a highway is in the offing linking the Kowloon Tunnel, Kwun Tong and To Kwa Wan, and passing right over the tarmac of the old. ”People are going to be disappointed by Kai Tak,” says Zimmerman. “The great potential of this area is access to the waterfront, but planners seem to have again neglected this space, which could have been used for fishing areas, marinas and cafes.” Urban designer and planner Sujata Govada agrees. “The highway could have been avoided if we moved the cruise terminal. The government consultation regarding the area went ahead, but with a fixed agenda. They didn’t ask for input in a genuine way.” Govada is also concerned with the way Kai Tak integrates with the rest of the neighborhood. “I’m worried that the development won’t integrate properly with neighboring developments. How easily will people be able to get the facilities?

Kwun Tong

Walking down Kwun Tong can be ghetto and filthy sometimes, but fun regardless. Not for long. The URA will turn Kwun Tong into a futuristic city, with a giant glass dome, elevated green walkways, and even a manmade waterfall—all, of course, under giant residential blocks and a landmark office building over 200 meters tall (around 90 storeys). Under the promise of preserving local characteristics, a Kai Fong Lane will be built to allow neighborhood shops to move back to Kwun Tong. But it’s little more than a gesture: one of Hong Kong’s oldest neighborhoods will be replaced by a new glass-clad Kwun Tong.

Lantau

To most, Lantau may seem fine as it is—the mountains, the green, the stretch of beaches and the fishing villages. But big changes are in store for the island. The northern waterfront, aligned with the MTR Tung Chung Line, will become a logistics park. A resort will be built on the Southern Cheung Sha Beach, together with triathlon race courses and several hiking and mountain biking trails. Mui Wo and Silvermine Bay will undergo a facelift, with a wooden deck to be built along the water. Finally, Tai O will be “revitalized” with modern facilities and structures to make it more tourist-friendly—the Development Bureau has organized an open design competition to this end (entries are currently on exhibition at the Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park until the 24th). Islands district councilor Amy Yung Wing-sheung predicts that Lantau’s population will go up and villagers who have moved out will come back. “More development will help lure them back and rejuvenate the local economy,” she says.
 

The Border

It’s always been somewhat ironic that our side of the Shenzhen/Hong Kong border is the undeveloped one, while the other side sees skyscrapers springing up everyday. The government will open up six-sevenths of the closed area soon, but not for development. 70 percent of the area will still be preserved as countryside, with plans for eco-tourism, while what development there is will remain low-rise.

Where to Buy?

Sandia Lau, Director of Centaline Property, recommends five areas she thinks wills be going up in value in the coming years.
 
 
West Kowloon
“The MTR line will go straight to Guangzhou and with all the redevelopment, it’s worth investing in this area even though the current price is already quite high.”
 
Sha Tin
“After the Route 8 expressway is finished, Sha Tin will be directly connected to Cheung Sha Wan.”
 
Tseung Kwan O
“The second phase of the Tseung Kwan O line will be completed in 2009 and the new Lohas Park residential development will benefit due to the convenient transport and sea view.” 
 
Yuen Long
“Yuen Long’s villa-style real estate property has a lot of potential. The place will continue to develop and the villas might become rare later on.” 
 
Kennedy Town
“The area will benefit from the construction of the MTR South Island line. Plus, there’s always a shortage of land in the island, so it’s always a good bet.”