It's not all dollars: Austrian consul general urges city to focus on quality of life, not just GDP
Austria's top diplomat in the city has called on Hongkongers to drop their obsession with competitiveness and GDP growth and focus instead on improving quality of life.
Claudia Reinprecht, the Austrian consul general to Hong Kong and Macau, said policymakers and civic leaders should place greater emphasis on cultivating more family-friendly environments and tackling housing once and for all.
Today's most prosperous cities look first and foremost at creating the conditions that attract people to settle, the 41-year-old envoy said.
"I think 'competitiveness' is only a small part of a bigger question. The city of the 21st century cannot be concerned about this alone.
"The key question would be how you maintain and improve the quality of life for people who want to live in communities that offer healthy and family-friendly lifestyles," she added.
Reinprecht was a lawyer specialising in refugee law and international criminal law before joining the Austrian foreign ministry in 2004.
She took up her post in the city in November 2013. About 800 Austrian nationals live in Hong Kong, forming the largest Austrian expatriate community in Asia.
"The city of today has to ask itself: how can we ensure or improve quality of life while radically reducing use of our scarce resources?" she asked.
"You do it with innovation, not only technology, but cultural, societal and economic innovation; not only good schools and safe streets but also clean air, beautiful parks, and extensive mass transit systems.
"Where people want to live, businesses want to invest. That's the question Hong Kong should be concerned about in future," she said. "With the right focus on putting people's needs in the centre, I think Hong Kong will be unstoppable."
Reinprecht said Hong Kong could draw lessons from her country's capital, especially in terms of walkability given its dedicated pedestrian zone and its provision of affordable housing.
"Vienna is one of the most livable, smartest and prosperous cities in the world," she said.
"One of the key aspects is the level of social equity and fairness and access to culture for the public at large. There are lots of public spaces in Vienna where cultural meaning can be created for the community."
On finding a way forward in Hong Kong's electoral reform, Reinprecht said the city is highly capable of reinventing itself: "I'm quite confident Hong Kong will somehow find a way to provide a platform for everybody to have a constructive dialogue for the benefit of the city."
