Building a Global City of the Future – Envisioning Sustainable Urbanisation of the New Territories
Building a Global City of the Future – Envisioning Sustainable Urbanisation of the New Territories
Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) published its latest Land & Housing Policy Research Report, Building a Global City of the Future – Envisioning Sustainable Urbanisation of the New Territories.
This report highlighted Hong Kong’s remarkably low level of urbanisation as the urbanised area with well-planned usages only consists of 20% of Hong Kong’s landmass, much lower than 47% in Shenzhen and 73% in Singapore. In the upcoming three decades, Hong Kong will need at least 9,000 hectares of land according to OHKF’s estimate based on practical needs. However, the major land supply measures planned by the Government has so far contributed 5,000 hectares only.
As the current land shortage is mainly attributed to the fact that no new town has been built in the past twenty years, this report emphasises the importance of planning and creating land on a sustained basis. With the major land creation efforts such as the Lantau Tomorrow Vision and the New Territories North in full swing, OHKF identified a paramount need to start looking for the next batch of New Development Areas (NDAs) to succeed these two projects. In anticipation of the dynamics ahead in the long-term future, OHKF lay out a visionary and pragmatic roadmap towards the 2030s and beyond.
In this report, we present nine Potential Development Areas (PDAs) for further study. They are extended from existing new towns and planned NDAs, forming a massive development belt with over 3,000 hectares that is comparable to Hong Kong’s core urban area. With thorough planning intended for large-scale development, new infrastructures can be constructed to fully release the development potential of fragmented brownfield areas, farmlands, and other underutilised areas.
The planned NDAs and the proposed PDAs are categorised into three development themes, namely Culture & Technology Corridor, Modern Logistics & Business Circle, and Living & Recreation Space, to complement the planning intentions of the ongoing projects implemented by the Government.
While the previous three generations of new towns saw their first population intake within 7.5 years on average, it takes approximately 17 years for the recent NDA projects to do the same. This report identifies three major hindrances in urbanising the New Territories: the under-provision of infrastructure, difficulties in aligning stakeholders’ interests, and failing land and housing policies. OHKF put forward a range of policy recommendations to equip the society and the Government with more tools to expedite both the ongoing NDA projects and the forthcoming ones.
Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) published its latest Land & Housing Policy Research Report, Building a Global City of the Future – Envisioning Sustainable Urbanisation of the New Territories.
This report highlighted Hong Kong’s remarkably low level of urbanisation as the urbanised area with well-planned usages only consists of 20% of Hong Kong’s landmass, much lower than 47% in Shenzhen and 73% in Singapore. In the upcoming three decades, Hong Kong will need at least 9,000 hectares of land according to OHKF’s estimate based on practical needs. However, the major land supply measures planned by the Government has so far contributed 5,000 hectares only.
As the current land shortage is mainly attributed to the fact that no new town has been built in the past twenty years, this report emphasises the importance of planning and creating land on a sustained basis. With the major land creation efforts such as the Lantau Tomorrow Vision and the New Territories North in full swing, OHKF identified a paramount need to start looking for the next batch of New Development Areas (NDAs) to succeed these two projects. In anticipation of the dynamics ahead in the long-term future, OHKF lay out a visionary and pragmatic roadmap towards the 2030s and beyond.
In this report, we present nine Potential Development Areas (PDAs) for further study. They are extended from existing new towns and planned NDAs, forming a massive development belt with over 3,000 hectares that is comparable to Hong Kong’s core urban area. With thorough planning intended for large-scale development, new infrastructures can be constructed to fully release the development potential of fragmented brownfield areas, farmlands, and other underutilised areas.
The planned NDAs and the proposed PDAs are categorised into three development themes, namely Culture & Technology Corridor, Modern Logistics & Business Circle, and Living & Recreation Space, to complement the planning intentions of the ongoing projects implemented by the Government.
While the previous three generations of new towns saw their first population intake within 7.5 years on average, it takes approximately 17 years for the recent NDA projects to do the same. This report identifies three major hindrances in urbanising the New Territories: the under-provision of infrastructure, difficulties in aligning stakeholders’ interests, and failing land and housing policies. OHKF put forward a range of policy recommendations to equip the society and the Government with more tools to expedite both the ongoing NDA projects and the forthcoming ones.
