|
Urban Re-imaginings
What’s next for redevelopment, reinvigoration and preservation in Hong Kong — and is the city getting the job done?
| Text : Elizabeth Kerr | Photo : www.thinkstockphotos.com |
Think back to a few years ago when the old Star Ferry pier in Central was scheduled for the wrecking ball. It was one of the few moments in Hong Kong’s recent history that galvanised the population. How could the government possibly allow that landmark to be demolished? Is this really progress, and does Hong Kong need more retail space? The two aren’t related, but that was the instant reaction to the news.
There are not that many historically significant buildings or districts left in Hong Kong that have not been subject to debate over how to preserve and/or renew them: Central Market, the old Central Police station and Gage Street Market quickly come to mind. That brings up the question of whose job it is to decide how to keep the city fresh and functioning while preserving what little living history is left.
Most of the job falls to the Urban Renewal Authority, which administers the government’s Urban Renewal Strategy. The URA has continually come under fire for its perceived ineffectiveness or lack of teeth, but it’s not for lack of trying. Hong Kong University’s Architectural Conservation Programme founder Dr Lynne DiStefano believes the URA is doing its best, but is hamstrung by a lack of funds and, more importantly, misguided policy. DiStefano told Hinge magazine, “Conservation is very complex. It is not something that can be separated into little compartments, but is a very broad, unwieldy discipline.” The key to conservation lays in understanding the place, its heritage and how it works. And it should be linked to other, larger policy. “One of the challenges is creating linkages within the current system. Maybe we’ll come to a point where there will be a public body that can somehow represent this process. In the world of conservation there is a term called integrated conservation and not in a separate department, not part of tourism or recreation. Ideally, it is a part of planning as well as many other departments. That’s where the integration needs to take place,” said DiStefano.
Though the URA is doing its best, the criteria it follows
in choosing the building and districts “worthy” of preservation or revitalisation are ultimately cosmetic or purely functional. “Valued” projects are those structures that the URA deems are deteriorating and demand urgent redevelopment; require basic sanitation or are fire hazards; have satisfactory living conditions; will affect a marked improvement of the area due to a replanning or restructuring project; will maximise land use; and where a building’s rehabilitation is viable. Nowhere does the URA address the more intangible elements that DiStefano believes are vital to conservation. Citing a lack of agreement on the basic idea of heritage, she says, “Some people still have that ‘single building’ approach, fixed very much on the tangible. Some people know that there is something about a district’s character that’s part of its identity.”
The URA currently has nine districts targeted for renewal and/or preservation: Kwun Tong, Ma Tau Kok, Sai Ying Pun, Sham Shui Po, Tai Kok Tsui, Yau Tong, Yau Ma Tei, Wanchai and Tsuen Wan. Each of those, however, represents some of the remnants of “old” Hong Kong. Some would argue that renewing these districts is tantamount to destroying the city’s history and identity. DiStefano describes the individual and vanishing qualities that created the areas in the first place as the first casualties of non-integrated conservation policies. “You can talk about a district in terms of its historical, spiritual and social value. You can also talk about it in terms of education values, but in order to understand the cultural heritage you’d have to understand that embedded in it are the values of its people. There should be more public discourse, so that more people will see that it’s not in so-called ‘deemed monuments’, but rather embedded in places.”
Most of the negative publicity of urban renewal in Hong Kong comes from the perception that renewal equates with tossing long-time residents out of their homes — the same residents that give a district its “embedded values” — and building shopping malls or high-end flats. More than one (unnamed) property agent, when asked, describes the government as “beholden” to big developers (and just as many will go on the record). To criticisms that too many renewals are commercially minded and are destroying traditional neighbourhoods, a URA spokesperson says, “The primary objective of the URA in implementing urban renewal initiatives is to improve the living environment of residents in dilapidated buildings in old urban areas. URA has adopted a holistic and comprehensive 4R strategy in its urban renewal initiatives, namely Redevelopment, Rehabilitation, pReservation and Revitalisation. We will adopt tactical measures to maintain local characteristics and enhance district vitality as far as practicable.” (All of the URA’s policy and plans are viewable on its website: www.ura.org.hk.)
Though it may sound as if the URA’s spokesperson is talking around the question of criticism, the body is responding to the public in other ways. Four URA projects in Kennedy Town, Tsuen Wan, and Tai Kok Tsui have won awards for environmental progressiveness. “The URA attaches a great deal of importance to environmental sustainability in its urban renewal projects. So far, it has won four HK-BEAM platinum ratings,” the spokesperson continues. The idea is that the eco-friendly building practices dovetail with the URA’s mandate for improving living standards. “To formalise and enhance its commitment to fostering a quality living environment in Hong Kong, [the] URA announced in May 2009 that it would lead by example and adopted a comprehensive policy on environmental sustainability.”
Urban renewal in Hong Kong is still primarily about function, “to create quality and vibrant urban living in Hong Kong — a better home in a world-class city.” Preservation is s secondary consideration, though not completely off the radar. Some of the preserved buildings the URA has had a hand in protecting include Western Market, Wing Woo Grocery and Central Market, which the URA is “very excited” about. It may be a lot to ask the URA to change its mandate, but until its emphasis is broadened, Hong Kong is likely to be smattered with a building here and a neighbourhood there that are truly well preserved beyond purely prosaic reasons. As DiStefano sees it, “I would maintain that the best approach is to see Hong Kong as a series of cultural landscapes … Heritage is something that is living.”
Click here for more on home decorating
|
