Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District should 'sting like a bee'
Hong Kong is also running in the global race to create a 21st century cultural district.
With the first venues in the West Kowloon Cultural District - Freespace and the Xiqu Centre - set to open in 2018, followed one year later by the M+ visual culture museum, Hong Kong is putting itself up against the likes of Berlin and Oslo.
But whether or not the district shines is, international experts say, about more than just the way the arts hub is managed. They say the city must come up with public policies that favour the growth of culture.
"It's important to build places for workshops and inexpensive living spaces for young people because they will be the people who go to coffee shops and theatres and who invent new technologies," says Gail Lord, co-president of Canada-based cultural consultancy Lord Cultural Resources, which has previously worked with West Kowloon.
According to data aggregator Numbeo, rents in Berlin are 69 per cent lower than here and consumer prices 15 per cent lower.
"One of the impacts of cultural districts is to help increase liveability in a dense environment and increase real estate value," says Lord. "But if the real estate becomes too expensive, it outstrips the creative ability to live and work there. People will move to more affordable cities."
Philip Dodd, chairman of London-based consultancy Made In China, says all cultural institutions must become entrepreneurial and West Kowloon cannot just look at Hong Kong.
"The key for West Kowloon to succeed is to think regionally and globally, not just to think about Hong Kong," says Dodd, who has vast experience in working with institutions in mainland China.
"In 40 years, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong will be one big city. This might be a horrible thought to some people in Hong Kong, but for West Kowloon this is a great opportunity. It has to be a hub in this region," he says.
Dodd also urges West Kowloon to get things moving as quickly as possible. "There's a danger that by the time it opens, the current model will no longer fit. West Kowloon should not be a monument, but an entity that is always changing, flexible and light, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee," he says.