Urban Renewal the City of Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong is a small city strategically situated at the southern coast of China with a land mass of 1,
104km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of 7 million people. With a hilly terrain, less than 25% of the land is
developed whilst about 40% is conserved as country parks and nature reserves. The rest comprises
greenbelts, conservation areas and agricultural land. The city is divided into the urban Hong Kong Island
in the south, the rural New Territories in the north and the urban Kowloon Peninsula in between the two,
as well as 262 other outlying islands.
Hong Kong developed elaborate renewal programs which evolved from large slum clearance schemes
to inner-city renewal and redevelopment of public housing estates, under the management of publicprivate partnerships. Initially, urban renewal in Hong Kong was dominated by the private sector. The
first public intervention into urban renewal in Hong Kong was in 1954. After the Second World War,
Numerous districts in Hong Kong were rebuilt to higher densities under the targets of urban renewal. Like
US trend Large-scale, slum clearance scheme done in Hong Kong to intervene largest and most
congested squatter areas in North Kowloo that affected 53,000 people homeless (Castells et al. 1990).
Squatters were evicted from dangerous slums or sites slated for development and were resettled to
public housing estates or to temporary housing. Those who conducted private businesses from their
home and had to vacate their shops were compensated.
In early 1970s a vast program of redevelopment initiated to re-house squatters those built in
From 1960s to the late 1970s, several schemes including a pilot scheme in Sheung wan urban renewal
district, environmental improvement areas and comprehensive redevelopment areas and urban
improvement scheme were implemented but their effects on improvement of urban areas were
insignificant. In 1968 the first urban redevelopment project in the western district of the Hong Kong
Island was launched officially, but it failed to renew all derelict parts. The reasons were due to
uncoordinated and fragmented urban policies and programs initiated by the government (Lee, G.K.L.
2008). In 1980s, bad quality of building structures, poor living environment of the cities and economic
restructuring demand for new urban renewal approach. 1974, a new approach, that is in situ
redevelopment of dilapidated properties in old inner-city districts, was introduced. New apartments
produced through the scheme were sold to families who had previously lived on the sites at discounted
prices, which helped to limit social disruption. Such redevelopment approach has led to the
displacement of original residents to new towns, at a distance from the city centre.
In 1987, a new approach was introduced which promoted public-private partnership in carrying out
comprehensive redevelopment in Hong Kong. the stated aim were to speed up private sector
redevelopment in selected areas, to encourage the participation of landowners, to improve the quality
and economic benefit of development by assembling larger sites, to ensure equitable treatment of the
tenants, and to minimize government subsidies. At that time the Land Development Corporation was
an independent public body.
Several urban renewal projects were completed in Hong Kong such as cases of Tsuen Wan Town Centre
district, a case of Sham Shui Po district1 and Wing Lee Street Projects.
The Land Development Corporation (LDC) of the government, Hong Kong Housing Society and the
urban renewal authority (URA) as well as the private sector are the main stakeholders in urban renewal
projects in Hong Kong. High density urban form of development and environmental issues were the
slogan of urban renewal in Hong Kong as a result of limited land supply, and changing economy and
populations needs.
According to Lee, G.K.L.,(2008), a total of 23 projects completed and 30 either announced and/or
ongoing implementation in Hong Kong. Thus, for example, in Tsuen Wan Town Centre Project one project
completed one on progress (ibid). In Tsuen Wan Town Centre Project (also known as Tsuen Wan Seven
Streets Project) commercial cum residential redevelopment project covers an area of around 20,000
square metres and about 7,000 populations affected. The site was characterized as old-aged buildings and
seriously deteriorated which was built in the early 1960s. Quite many new immigrants and old people
1 Sham shui po district is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It covers the Shek Kip Mei, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai
Chi Kok and Yau Yat Chuen areas of New Kowloon, and Stonecutter's Island of Kowloon. It is the poorest district in Hong Kong,
with a predominantly working-class population of 365,540 and the lowest median household income, and the fourth least
educated residents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sham_Shui_Po_District

lived in these buildings because of the low rents, making the living environment overcrowded. Residents
lived in tiny, partitioned cubicles and cocklofts. There were sometimes as many as 29 households living
in just a unit of 800 square feet. Many residents even took shelter in illegal rooftop squatter huts.
As Mrs Shek from Sai Ying Pun says2 [voices of Hong Kong residents suffering in living at density]
People would chat on street at night especially teenagers, [who] dont have their own space at
home, it isnt big enough ... they all grab a beer and sit in front of Kau Yan [school].
In May 2007, about 1,466 residential flats; 23,221 square metres of commercial space; 3,080 square
metres of government, institutional and community facilities and 3,700 square metres of open space were
the components of the project. Construction work of the projects was completed.
After completion the project come up with new vibrancy and features to this old district. Some new
features of the Tsuen Wan Town Centre project after redevelopment
There are 5 towers of 1,466 residential units and a 3-storey shopping centre;
The residential project, Vision City, includes a vertical greening area of around 750 square metres
containing nearly 40,000 plants. Vertical greening of such scale is unprecedented in the construction
history of Hong Kong, and the environmentally friendly design won a platinum accreditation
awarded by the Hong Kong BEAM.
Public open space and more community facilities, including a hostel for the moderately mentally
handicapped and a multi-purpose social centre for the elderly, are provided;

A new mini-bus terminal was built, along with a network of pedestrian bridges linking major
buildings;
The footpath along Wo Tik Street near Vision City was widened, and a green area added;

Later, the URA worked together with the District Council on a larger scale greening project in
Chung on Street in Tsuen Wan. The work included re-laying the carriageway, widening the footpaths,
and creating more space for tree planting.
From this special issue of urban renewal in high-rise building and vertical gardens with mixed uses lesson
drawn.
Urban renewal in United Kingdom (UK)
Even though the evolution of renewal policies in Europe followed a similar pattern with that of US,
European countries have often looked at the American experience as a model for urban renewal
(Grebler, 1964) 3.
UKs Housing Act of 1851 public and social housing programs and sanitation projects provided a basis
for renewal in Europe i.e.: Lewisham social housing in London and other social housing projects in
Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow (Fainstein, 1983 Nuran, Z.G. & Ebru,G.
2011).
In the United Kingdom, the slum clearance process, in which problematical areas cleared and rebuilding
a new urban pattern to upgrade urban quality, started on a massive scale with the Greenwood Act of 1930
(Short, 1982 cited in Naomi, 1999). The main objective was to demolish 12-60,000 housing units and
build 100-150, 000 new housing units (ibid). During 1930s, many housing units especially low-rise
privately constructed buildings were demolished and re-housed (Naomi, 1999).
Thus, urban reconstruction was continued as major strategies and orientations in UK during 1940s and
1950s to ameliorate severe decline of inner city resulting from suburban growth and the relocation of
industry during the period. For those relocated in new council housing, in the UK, both the clearance and
the provision of housing were managed by the public authorities (Couch, 1990; Naomi, 1999). The state
involvement in urban renewal was to fight the unsanitary conditions in working-class neighbourhoods
through slum clearance (Couch, 1990). Until the 1950s, flats and tenements were considered as a
suitable form for replacement of working class housing. Replacing the physical problems of the past
2 http://lsecities.net/files/2011/11/2011_chw_3096_Taylor-Inclan-Valadez-Yip-al.pdf
3 http://www.mcgill.ca/mchg/student/neighborhood/chapter1

and improving the housing and living standards in the older areas was the main emphasize of UK
government had during the period of urban reconstruction in 1940s to1950s (Couch, 1990).
During 1960s immediately after the post-war the suburban and peripheral growth continued and slum
clearance become the pressing problem to the UK government. In early 1960s Urban renewal practices
was continued as of 1950s with emphasize on the process of Post-war recovery and reconstruction and
attempt of rehabilitation by assuming socio-economic and political issues. Several adjustments to the
urban policy were made to adopt a more participatory and decentralized approach during the1960s to
1970s.This shift of urban policy focused more on the social improvement and urban renewal, and from a
local and site level to regional levels. In general, inner city problems have been noticed in Europe as of
late 1960s. By the end of the 1960s, most renewal policies began to totally discard large-scale slum
clearance, and programs were reoriented towards rehabilitation and area improvement (Couch, 1990).
The aim of urban revitalizations, according to Harvard Law Review of 1969, was to attract middle-class
people to settle in historic sites.
Urban renewal became the dominant discourse in 1970s focusing on in-situ and neighbourhood
schemes, however suburban and peripheral growth still continued. This shift of urban policy focused
more on the social improvement and urban renewal, and from a local and site level to regional levels.
During this period urban renewal gave a greater on co-ordination between the government, public and
private sectors in the economic, social and physical aspects.
In 1980s, the whole urban redevelopment process relied on Public-Private Partnerships economic
development projects rather than just the central state. Among these projects giant shopping malls,
convention centres, hotels and occasionally prestige housing was concentred in the heart of the city. The
best known British example was London Docklands in addition to other many flagship projects; out of
torn projects, where most of those projects were commercially successful (Naomi, 1999).
According to Roberts and Sykes (2000) in 1990s urban renewal approach shifted from redevelopment
projects of 1980s to a more comprehensive form of policy and practice more emphasis on integrated
treatments, called as urban regeneration projects.
Today, in the western world, most urban renewal actions are based on residential rehabilitation and
upgrading.
Urban Renewal in United States of America
The federal Bulldozer Approach was the earliest forms of urban renewal approaches in US. The
approach aimed at the unpopular Negro Removal program, as some called through slum clearance.
Intolerable housing conditions in old and very old buildings in the growing cities, coupled with the wish
to make better use of central urban land and drive the poor out of site were the ideas for emergence of
slum clearance (Naomi, 1999). This approach of the slum clearance and the construction of public
housing provided by the United States Housing Act of 1937, in which relocation were given the first
national recognition (Coleman, W. 1953:411). In 1938, a policy and procedures for relocation was issued
by the United States Housing Authority. This indicates that urban renewal practices were started since
1930s in US. In the beginning of the 1930s the main planning applications in US were based on zoning
ordinances and construction of new parks and recreational areas.
Public agencies performed the concentration and clearance of land sites while new construction was done
by private entrepreneurs in US. As a result, the number of apartments demolished under the auspices of
the Urban Renewal programs in the US was much greater than the number of units built. The slum areas
were frequently replaced by shopping centres, office buildings, and cultural and entertainment centres, all
of which were in high demand in the booming years that followed World War II.
After the Second World War (WWII), US had experienced a serious urban decay. The federal government
had implemented the The Housing Act of 1949 which aimed to construct 800,000 housing units.
According to Colborn (1963: 7), the 1949 Renewal Program defined urban renewal as:
"the diversified efforts by localities, with the assistance of the Federal Government, for the
elimination and prevention of slums and blight, whether residential or non-residential, and the
removal of the factors that create slums and blighting conditions.

The context of urban renewal projects changed radically after WWII. The Housing Act of 1954 shifted the
approach from slum clearance and urban redevelopment to slum prevention and urban renewal
which involves clearance, demolition, and redevelopment.
The established objective at that time was to create flagship projects in older parts of the city centres
and increasing demands for these areas.
However, some housing activists blame the Housing Act of 1954, for instance, Charles Abrams (1971, p.
244), No sooner had the federal law [Housing Act of 1949] been enacted then two facts became plain:
(1) there were no houses available for the slum-dwellers to be displaced from the sites; (2) these slumdwellers were largely minorities to who housing in new areas was banned.
Many criticised the United States Urban Renewal Program at that time. It ignored the heavy
psychological cost of enforced relocation and the social cost of the destruction of healthy communities. It
destructs of the homes and neighbourhoods of the poor and minorities, and to the displacement of
small businesses and the demolition of inhabitable housing. Also, it directed too much investment to
central business districts and not enough to positive actions in the neighbourhoods and gave too little
attention to social concerns.
In the US, concentration and clearance of land sites was generally done by public agencies, while the new
construction was in the hands of private entrepreneurs. As a result, the number of apartments demolished
under the auspices of the Urban Renewal programs in the US was much greater than the number of units
built.
As a severe criticism of the bulldozer approach and suburban growth that exacerbate city problems,
comprehensive rehabilitation program as a new approach to assist distressed neighbourhoods was
developed and implemented in the US during the 1960s and later on in other countries. According to
Naomi (1999) the rehabilitation program aimed at that time to improve existing housing and
environments in addition to treating social problems of the population through allocation of welfare
projects (such as in the field of education, health, professional training, public safety, etc.. and at
minimum level investment on housing rehabilitation). However, the program noticed failure as a result of
different suggestion like ambitious, too theoretical and gap between promise and performance was
conspicuously large (ibid).
During 1970s the social and physical rehabilitation of ancient areas intervened through the area based
urban renewal project strategies.
Thus it limited displacement and disruption of communities by emphasizing neighbourhood
preservation and housing rehabilitation. Today, housing rehabilitation has become the dominant
activity in urban renewal in the United States.
The Federal Government had eventually established the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development in 1965 to handle the urban renewal projects in American cities. At that time, urban renewal
was defined as:
those policies, measures, and activities that would do away with the major forms of physical blight in
cities and bring about changes in urban structure and institutions contributing to a favourable
environment for a healthy civic, economic, and social life for all urban dwellers(Woodbury, 1953).
Although the large scale urban renewal projects were suspended, there were still lots of small scale
projects occurred in 1980s. Most of them focused on the combination of urban texture among the old
neighbourhood and improvement of the transportation system within the areas. Therefore, the US
government, at that time, used the term urban redevelopment instead of urban renewal to describe those
projects.