Every urban development will have its "life cycle". The passage of history also means that planning will begin to become obsolete, and it will face problems such as aging buildings and declining economic functions.
Yau Mong District is one of the earlier planned urban areas in Hong Kong. It is now facing a "twilight period". A large number of buildings over 60 years old are flooding the community. There are also many community problems in the area, such as traffic congestion and the environment. Deterioration and so on.
Therefore, the Urban Renewal Authority launched the "Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok Area Study" as early as 2017 to explore how to improve the current land use efficiency and redevelopment potential of these two areas, and plans to divide some areas into activation zones and open space, hoping to improve The living environment of the district.
However, the vision will inevitably be questioned as being too idealistic. As the old districts of Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok are poverty-stricken areas, they can be described as grassroots homes. If they are rashly rebuilt and upgraded to high-end residential areas, how should the local grassroots residents be resettled?
In this year’s Policy Address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor accepted the recommendations made by the URA in the “Yau Mong District Study”, including a conceptual blueprint for urban renewal covering the entire Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok old district, as well as the “transfer plot ratio” and New planning tools such as "street integration".
(Photo provided by URA)
During the interview, Chen Jianqing, a member of the local research agency, questioned why the URA has the huge planning power to decide on its own the outline of the redevelopment plan for the Yau Mong District (photo by Yu Chunliang)
Ye Yiming, a professor in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at City University, believes that the URA conducted the oil boom study this time precisely because the government does not want large-scale reconstruction.
(Photo by Huang Baoying)
For more details, please read the 293th "Hong Kong 01" electronic weekly report published on November 29, 2021, "
Between self-financing and people-oriented reconstruction, the grassroots cannot be ignored
".
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