Hong Kong needs to plan for people and profit to prosper
Kitty Parkes says Hong Kong planners have to create a liveable city that attracts talent and investment
This week, we've read about the proposed removal of a quintes-sentially Hong Kong symbol: the tram. Affordable, iconic and ambling in a city that could do with more amble. Thousands of locals and tourists alike opt for this zero-carbon mode of transport each day.
The proposal put to the Hong Kong Planning Board to close the Central to Admiralty service, which will more than likely be rejected, is a red herring. What it does do, however, is offer an opportunity for debate about the real challenges facing Hong Kong's urban landscape.
Hong Kong is unique. When it comes to dense urban development, we wrote the book. The challenge for the planners is to make the city liveable. We need to do this to continue to attract and retain talent, tourism and investment.
For a city that is so compact, and whose density requires public transport to be more efficient, we should be bolder at providing greener alternatives and removing cars where possible
The solution is not found in the scrapping of the tram service, but by reappraising how we use our overcrowded streets, greening the environment and breathing new life into the heart of the city by creating vibrant pedestrian areas.
There's a compelling case for rethinking the planning approach: it's not just about getting traffic moving, but also creating better spaces in which people can live, which has a direct impact on the economy. We need a hierarchy that doesn't always put private vehicles on top.
Treating the street as another public space and not just a movement corridor is vital, but it's nothing new. Major cities around the world - some with similar density and space constraints, have re-designed their city centres for the benefit of pedestrians. Look at Broadway in New York and Orchard Turn in Singapore. An example on our own doorstep is the more pedestrian-friendly Canton Road in Kowloon.
The Central-Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link offer a solution to alleviate traffic and allow fast east-west movement.
It also presents an opportunity to create more public footpaths elsewhere and revisit schemes such as the Des Voeux Road "Oasis" proposal, by the Hong Kong Institute of Planners, MVA Hong Kong, City University and Civic Exchange, to create a tram-pedestrian precinct in Central.