A Liveable Compact City? Local Perspectives from Hong Kong

Utrecht University A Liveable Compact City? Local Perspectives from Hong Kong Master of Science in Spatial Planning Faculty of Geosciences Utrecht University Ka Sik Tong February 2018 A Liveable Compact City? Local Perspectives from Hong Kong Master of Science in Spatial Planning November 2017 Ka Sik Tong Student ID: 5922402 [email protected] Supervised by Professor Dr. Jochen Monstadt Utrecht University Faculty of Geosciences PREFACE This dissertation is original, unpublished, independent work by Ka Sik Tong. This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Master of Science at Utrecht University. This research described herein was conducted under the supervision of Professor Jochen Monstadt in the Department of Geoscience, Utrecht University, between August 2017 and March 2018. Ka Sik Tong March 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2017 August marked the start of this 7-months long journey, and I am finally writing this note of thanks. It has been an intense period for me, in all aspects. It is much tougher, but it also means much greater than I thought it would be. I would like to at this moment, express my sincere thanks to all precious people who have supported and helped me so much throughout this period. I am incredibly grateful to my supervisor Professor Dr Jochen Monstadt for his guidance and support throughout these months. I would like to also, express my thanks to all interviewees who try their best in helping me, providing all the great information for this study. I would like to thank my parents, who have been supporting me throughout the two years long journey. You are always there for me, warm and supportive. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends, Koey Chu, Kelly Tang, Jojo Chan, Ho- Tsun Ip, Kyungmin Lee and Janice Wong who have been listening to my grumbles all the time but remain to be here with me. Their unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout the two years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis make it possible for me to achieve this. Thank you. ABSTRACT Proponents of the compact city concept have been promoting high-density and mixed-use developments as the critical solutions to countervail the negative externalities of urban sprawl. It is suggested as a model which could bring about mixed urban land-uses, less car dependency, thus reducing energy consumption and preserving the environment. Herein, the implementation of a compact city model would be able to provide a sustainable and liveable environment to urban residents. However, not everyone appreciates the high-density way of compact city development. Critical appraisals have pointed to different trade-offs between urban density and liveability, such as failures in providing affordable housing, shortages in urban green space or overcrowding in the urban residential area (Burton,1999; Neuman,2005). While various cities in East and Southeast Asia have decided to develop in a high-density way emphasising the benefits of this compact urban form, the benefits or trade-offs of this urban form on people’s urban living conditions are yet to be validated. While much of this debate dates back from the late 1990s and early 2000s (Jenks & Burgess, 2000; Jenks, Burton, & Williams, 1996; Jacobs, 1961; Williams, Burton, & Jenks, 1996; Burton, 2002; Burton,2000), it is time to review the validity of such claims in view of the considerable growth in urban densification in many East and Southeast Asian cities over the last few decades. In this research, claims and observation on these benefits and trade-offs that are previously suggested by urban experts, scholars, and more would be reviewed through the lens of a case study. By zooming into an exemplary, well-developed compact city, we would have a chance to validate the theoretical and hypothetical claims on the benefits or trade-offs of compact development form on people’s daily life. Based on a detailed qualitative case study of the city of Hong Kong and several expert interviews, this research identifies rising liveability concerns of the high-density compact urban form, providing critical insights into ‘compact city’ debates. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 3 Acknowledgements 4 Abstract 5 List of Tables 10 List of Figures 11 Chapter 1. Introduction 12 1.1 Background 12 1.1.1 The Evolving Notion of Compact City 12 1.1.2 Centrism Development 13 1.1.3 The Birth of Compact city concept 13 1.1.4 Compact City revamped as a ‘Sustainable’ Approach 14 1.1.5 The rise of Compact City in Asia 14 1.1.6 The growing development of high-density compact cities 15 1.2 Problem Statement 16 1.3 Research Value 17 1.4 Objectives and Research Questions 18 Chapter 2. Literature Review 20 2.1 Reviewing the Urban Form of Compact City 20 2.1.1 Compact City Urban Form 20 2.1.2 High-density compact city as a common form of compact city adopted in recent years 22 2.2 Urban Liveability of Compact City 22 2.2.1 The evolving notion of urban liveability 23 2.2.2 Hypotheses & Observation: The local benefits 24 2.2.3 Hypotheses& Observation: The Trade-offs 25 2.2.4 Bottom-up approach in evaluating urban liveability: Empirical research in field 29 2.3.1 Claims Identified 31 2.4 The Research Gap 33 Chapter 3 Methodology 35 3.1 Research Paradigm 35 3.2 Research Strategy 36 3.3.1 Hypothesis-testing Case Study 36 3.3.2 Site Selection 38 3.4 Data collection methods and Sampling 39 3.4.1 Interview 40 3.4.2 Other Supportive Data 43 3.5 Framework for data analysis 43 3.6 Limitations and potential problems 44 Chapter 4 Urban Form Analytics 46 4.1 The Macro-context of high density compact development in Hong Kong 46 4.1.1 The origin (Reason, tracing back to 1950s) 46 4.1.2 The policy (development policy) 46 4.1.3 The resulting outcome 49 4.2 Urban Living Environment of Kwun Tong (Field Data) 49 4.2.1 History and Background 49 4.2.2 Urban Form 50 Chapter 5 Case Study Results: Hypothesis Testing 57 5.1 Urban Liveability can benefit through 57 5.1.1 Sufficient and accessible protected green spaces for public 57 5.1.2 Affordable and less polluting public transportation 58 5.1.3 High accessibility to infrastructures and local services 63 5.1.4 Small conclusion 64 5.2 Urban liveability can decrease due to 64 5.2.1 Housing concerns 64 5.2.2 Failure in pollution reduction and intensified impact of noise pollution 70 5.2.3 In-city insufficient green or open space 71 5.2.4 High-density induced health and well-being impact of residents 72 Chapter 6 Discussion and Implication 70 6.1 Green space protection policy and the rising housing price 76 6.2 Intensification and its impact 77 6.2.1 Impact on infrastructure 77 6.2.2 Impact on transportation 77 6.3 Housing problem and balance 78 6.5 Conclusion - Hypothesis 3: The trade-offs and balance 79 6.5.1 Strategic Trade-off in Hong Kong 80 6.5.2 Benefits brought by the compact urban form 80 Chapter 7 Conclusion 78 7.1 Research Objectives: Summary of Findings and Conclusions 81 7.1.1 Research Objective 1: Literature stated local benefits and trade-offs 81 7.1.2 Research Objective 2: Case studies of local benefits and trade-offs 82 7.1.3 Research Objective 3: Reflect on the conceptual debate 83 7.2 Insights and Recommendations for further research 84 Bibliography 85 Appendixes 92 Appendix A Template of Interview Questions 92 (I) Integrated/Housing 92 (II) Interview for transportation 93 (III) Interview for health wellbeing 93 (IV) Interview for Community Experts 94 (V) Interview for Local Residents 97 Appendix B Experts Interview Transcripts 99 (I) Transcript - Mr Alfred Ho (Urban Researcher) 99 (II) Transcript – Dr Edward Yiu (Housing) 109 (III) Transcript – Mr Simon Ng (Transportation) 118 (IV) Transcript – Ms Carine Lai (Open Space) 126 (V) Transcript – Dr Corine Wong (Health and Well-being) 138 Appendix C Kwun Tong Community Expert and Local Residents Transcripts 149 (I) Transcript – Mr Yuen, Living in Kwun Tong 149 (II) Transcript – Ms Ip 160 (III) Transcript – Ms Chan 166 (IV) Transcript – Mr Chow 172 (V) Transcript – Ms Lam 173 (VI) Transcript – Mr Chan 176 (VII) Transcript – Mr Cheung 177 (VIII) Transcript – Mr Chu 178 (IX) Transcript – Mr Kam 180 (X) Transcript – Mrs Fong 182 (XI) Transcript – Mrs Kwok 185 LIST OF TABLES Table 1List of identified claims ............................................................................................................. 32 Table 2 Experts Interviews ................................................................................................................... 42 Table 3 Community Experts Interviews ................................................................................................ 42 Table 4 Residents Interviews ................................................................................................................ 43 Table 5 Housing Figures Hong Kong and Kwun Tong (Hong Kong Government, 2017) ....................... 51 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Model of Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin for Paris (Left) (Corbusier, 1925) and 1963 An aerial view of So Uk Public Housing Estate in Hong Kong(Right) (Teoalida, 2011) ........................................ 15 Figure 2 Annual rate of urban spatial expansion in East Asia (World Bank Group, 2015) ................... 15 Figure 3 Mean Qualitative Results Scores by Outcome - Compact City Characteristics (Ahlfeldt & Pietrostefani, 2017) ..................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 4 Model for analysing impacts of high density compact urban form on liveability .................. 33 Figure 5 Qualitative data analysis process for High density compact city liveability case study ......... 44 Figure 6 Geographical Distribution of green belt zones and country parks in Hong Kong, 2005 (Tang, Wong, & Lee, Green Belt, Countryside Conservation and Local Politics: A Hong Kong Case Study, 2005) ............................................................................................................................................ 48 Figure 7 Map of Kwun Tong District (Google Map, 2018) ...................................................................

Load more