https://www.scmp.com/rss/315381/feed Oren Tatcher is an architect and planner who specialises in airports and urban mobility. He is a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design and teaches at the Master in Urban Design and Transportation programme at the University of Hong Kong. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Oren Tatcher Oren Tatcher “Chinese carmakers race to build early advantage in flying car ventures” read a headline in this newspaper last week, reporting on the latest efforts by the companies to become leaders in the “low-altitude economy”. This buzz phrase, which encompasses everything from drone deliveries to autonomous flying taxis, seems to be viewed in Beijing as an important technological frontier. Not to be left behind, Hong Kong recently announced plans for cross-border electric vertical take-off and landing... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3310869/hong-kongs-vision-low-altitude-economy-needs-urban-reality-check?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3310869/hong-kongs-vision-low-altitude-economy-needs-urban-reality-check?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 May 2025 01:30:07 +0000 Noting an uptick in fatal traffic accidents, the Hong Kong Police Force announced earlier this month they would step up enforcement against jaywalking and poor driving. “We found that many accidents involved pedestrians not paying full attention when crossing the road, such as using phones, or not using crossing facilities properly,” Senior Inspector Chan Ho-man of the force’s road safety unit said. While acknowledging that “illegal driving behaviour is another major reason for serious and fatal... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3231292/jaywalking-crackdown-not-enough-make-hong-kong-safer-city-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3231292/jaywalking-crackdown-not-enough-make-hong-kong-safer-city-all?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Aug 2023 00:15:08 +0000 These are stressful times for Hong Kong. The prospect of a “tsunami-like” Covid-19 outbreak – to borrow the expression used by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last month – is real and deeply concerning. Instinctively, people feel that a conflagration in Hong Kong will play out differently, and may cause more damage, than it did in many of the other places around the world that experienced high levels of infection. Much of that has to do with Hong Kong’s urban structure and spatial... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3166963/hong-kongs-omicron-wave-too-densely-packed-be-locked-down-or-open?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3166963/hong-kongs-omicron-wave-too-densely-packed-be-locked-down-or-open?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:15:21 +0000 Strict regulations may force the first driverless vehicle built in Hong Kong – developed by Professor Liu Ming and his students at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology – to have its road tests in Shenzhen, the Post reported recently. The Transport Department apparently may not grant the team permission to test the vehicle on our busy streets. The world is abuzz with talk about driverless cars. From academic symposiums to dinner tables, there is palpable excitement about technology... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2122306/hong-kong-should-put-pedestrians-first-not-cars-driverless?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2122306/hong-kong-should-put-pedestrians-first-not-cars-driverless?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Dec 2017 04:02:50 +0000 Five years ago, Michael Bloomberg, then New York mayor, proudly launched a micro-flat rental building project in Manhattan. At 300 sq ft, the units in the pilot scheme were well below the 400 sq ft minimum legal size for New York; Bloomberg thought such flats were necessary to attract the young talent priced out of the city’s housing market. News reports showed Bloomberg walking around a full-size mock-up of the small but sensible floor plan, as if to reassure the public that the flats would... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2098615/micro-flats-macro-housing-policy-hong-kong-lags-far-behind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2098615/micro-flats-macro-housing-policy-hong-kong-lags-far-behind?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jun 2017 03:00:53 +0000 On February 6, the government will conclude stage one of the public engagement for its “Pilot Study on Underground Space Development in Selected Strategic Urban Areas”. As usual, a roving exhibition, various public forums and a sleek website were meant to solicit public comments. What is unusual is the significance of the proposals inside what sounds like a boring engineering study. The premise is reasonable enough. Hong Kong is, indeed, very congested at street level in some of its old urban... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2067868/hong-kong-should-not-rush-developing-underground-space-ease?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2067868/hong-kong-should-not-rush-developing-underground-space-ease?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Feb 2017 23:02:33 +0000 The flurry of reports and commentary following the truly catastrophic collapse of a new green roof at City University focused, appropriately, on the apparent failure of the building approval system, which is supposed to protect us from man-made disasters. In all fairness, it has done very well in a city full of spindly towers, steep retaining walls and precariously suspended signage subjected to typhoon winds and torrential downpours. How green roofs became a “blind spot” – not just for our... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1963431/do-green-roofs-really-have-any-environmental-benefits-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1963431/do-green-roofs-really-have-any-environmental-benefits-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Jun 2016 03:02:07 +0000 There has been a lot of discussion recently about the decision by the State Council to open up gated residential compounds around mainland China, and prevent new ones from being built. While most commentators focused on issues such as property rights, safety and the wealth gap, the decision’s implications on urban form and personal mobility deserve closer inspection, not least because of their relevance to Hong Kong. Not in my compound: Beijing’s middle class homeowners balk at idea of opening... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1926353/walls-hong-kongs-very-own-gated-compounds-must-come-down-too?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1926353/walls-hong-kongs-very-own-gated-compounds-must-come-down-too?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Mar 2016 05:03:18 +0000 Just as the green oasis of Singapore was getting ready for its 50th birthday celebration - part of it involving the mass planting of trees - the Hong Kong government cut down four beautiful, mature Chinese banyan trees on Bonham Road, which offered a rare green respite in the Mid-Levels' concrete jungle. Perhaps it was meant to send a defiant message to our eternal rival to the south: you have your ways, we have ours. You don't have to be a fan of Singapore to be envious of its remarkable,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1850173/green-envy-hong-kongs-grey-urban-environment-put-shame-lush?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1850173/green-envy-hong-kongs-grey-urban-environment-put-shame-lush?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Aug 2015 08:00:45 +0000 Creativity has a new place", proclaim the signs welcoming visitors to PMQ, the former Police Married Quarters in Sheung Wan recently reborn as a hub for the local creative industry. On display is indeed a lot of local interior design talent, showcased in an impressive line-up of charming and often refined little shops, of the type one finds scattered in trendy parts of Tokyo or dotting the quieter corners of Sheung Wan or Wan Chai. The shops sparkle against the rather crude architectural... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1579106/pmqs-awkward-marriage-old-and-new-beginning-show-buzz-fades?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1579106/pmqs-awkward-marriage-old-and-new-beginning-show-buzz-fades?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Aug 2014 06:30:30 +0000