Pollution, poor cycling and scrapped electric car incentives cause Hong Kong to lose out to Singapore in sustainable city index
- Hong Kong scored top marks for economic performance
- But scored low on environmental front, in part due to resilience risks associated with exposure to natural disasters such as typhoons
Hong Kong has scored top marks for economic performance in a study that ranked it the second most sustainable city in Asia after Singapore, but trailed its peers in social and environmental parameters.
Regional air pollution, the lack of an urban bicycle infrastructure and the government scrapping electric vehicle incentives put the city below its Southeast Asian rival, according to Arcadis, a Dutch consultancy.
An income gap at its highest point in 45 years, coupled with unaffordable property and living costs also put a dampener on its performance, placing Hong Kong fifth in Asia and a middling 21st in the world on social-related indicators on its Sustainable Cities Index.
“Low affordability, that’s where Hong Kong really suffers on the ranking – it’s expensive to find a place to live,” said John Batten, global cities director at Arcadis.
To boost land availability and housing supply, the firm suggested unlocking more land such as brownfields – abandoned, degraded private farmland – and offering tax incentives for developers to build more low-income housing.