Hong Kong needs urban green lungs to be a more liveable city

Hong Kong has world-class country parks and hiking trails but nothing in the city that offers a true escape, like New York’s Central Park or Hyde Park in London, and proposals to build a dedicated cycle path have been to no avail. This must change

Dennis Lee

Published: 9:15am, 14 Feb, 2021

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Despite being one of the most unaffordable cities in the world, with a huge wealth gap and political turbulence, there is simply no better place to be than Hong Kong. This is true even after what we have been through in the past two years.

Why this is so depends on who you talk to. Some speak of Hong Kong’s favourable business environment, unique geographical advantages or low taxes. Others commend its efficiency, high energy or simply the good vibes. However, we rarely hear praise for Hong Kong’s living environment.

Yet, this is one of the most critical factors in defining quality of life, and measurable by “hardware” such as homes, public spaces, transport and infrastructure, and by “software” such as social services, reliable utilities, entertainment, clean water and food. While such “software” is generally readily available, there is room for improvement in the hardware.

Hong Kong’s public transport system is world class. But the uncontrolled sale and registration of vehicles have left roads congested, with frequent jams and illegal parking. This brings commuters inconvenience as well as excessive air and noise pollution.

In terms of public space, green areas are key to providing a healthy environment. With more than 7,000 people per square kilometre, Hong Kong has a higher population density than most other economies in the world.

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Urban density is even higher: 75 per cent of the city comprises country parks and rural or undeveloped land. Mong Kok is one of the world’s most crowded districts, with over 130,000 people per sq km – living up to its Chinese name of “busy corner”.

Hong Kong has taken French master architect Le Corbusier’s “City of Tomorrow” urbanisation ideas to the extreme, where inhabitants are concentrated and open spaces and parks are maximised around them.

Some public housing estates have reasonable-size outdoor parks on the ground floor. But these are mostly underutilised, with hard landscape materials that are easy to maintain but unpleasant to use. Private developments have better-designed outdoor areas but these are often on top of podiums and off-limits to the general public.

Parks and gardens are scattered around the city, but none offers a true escape. For example, the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens is uphill from Central and hard to access. The same applies to Hong Kong Park, cut off by Cotton Tree Drive’s fast traffic, with the only reasonable walking access through Pacific Place. One could be forgiven for mistaking it for part of a private commercial development.

One could be forgiven for mistaking Hong Kong Park for part of a private commercial development. Photo: Getty Images

While the country parks and hiking trails outside the city are world class, Hong Kong really needs a large “green lung” like New York’s Central Park or London’s Hyde Park in the middle of the city. Yet, such a project is unimaginable.

The problem is a lack of sensible city planning. Until the 1970s, when new town development took place, most people lived on the flat strip of waterfront land on Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. We do have the harbour, with arguably the world’s most beautiful skyline.

The Harbourfront Commission was founded more than 10 years ago with a mission to develop the harbour for leisure and recreation. But work has been sluggish and some so-called improvements include short promenades where a jogger cannot cover mid-to-long distances without having to turn round, never mind loop around the harbour.

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Food trucks are limited in mobility and can only park at designated spots near the waterfront. There are glimpses of quality public spaces, when families picnic, set up camp for the day or play sports and games at weekends, at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, Tamar Park or West Kowloon Cultural District Park, which also has restaurants, cafes and other places where people can watch the world go by.

Quality public spaces invite people to slow down. City planners and designers just need to provide sizeable fields for people to walk around, and places for food and drink, retail and other small businesses to operate.

A much-needed designated cycling trail would take up no more than 6 metres in width to accommodate two-way traffic; architects have tried to promote cross-harbour cycling lanes before, to no avail.

Imagine if one could cycle from Kennedy Town to Chai Wan, from Tsing Yi to Kwun Tong, or Quarry Bay to Lam Tin. Imagine if the Tourism Board could host the annual Hong Kong Cyclothon around our beautiful harbour. Imagine if we didn’t have to worry about traffic delays. Good transport is about moving people efficiently, not cars.

03:51

Road test: cycling Hong Kong’s scenic New Territories route after new section completes 60km track

The government should start integrating cycling as a means of transport, instead of considering it an exclusive leisure activity for the New Territories. Some argue that the city is too developed to start transforming the roads. But if historic European cities can integrate cycling lanes, why not Hong Kong?

Visionary thinking requires a collective sense of purpose and common good. It might require a complete change in habits and thinking. To improve our living environment with well-balanced public green spaces requires collaboration and belief among all the community to bring the vision to reality.

Dennis Lee is a Hong Kong-born, American-licensed architect with 22 years of design experience in the US and China

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