Old district renewal | Is gentrification a necessary process to start a new era?

Community development is an inevitable process, and this process will inevitably lead to "gentrification" (Gentrification), because urban renewal is accompanied by an increase in land value, and there are bound to be small shops that cannot withstand the increase. Forced to leave the area due to land rent, the culture brought to the community by the small shop will also be helplessly disappear.

However, is gentrification really a necessary process to start a new era?

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Examples of gentrification abound in Hong Kong, and they are often implemented "from top to bottom." The URA and developers are often accused of being the culprits of gentrification in old districts.

For example, in 2010, Lee Tung Street in Wan Chai was officially closed for reconstruction, and the street full of old tenement houses and small shops became luxury houses and brand-name shops.

The ground shops on Old Lidong Street are all small shops for printing 囍囍囍, so Lidong Street was also commonly known as "囍囍囍 Street." Today, many people still can’t change the name of Lidong Street as "囍囍囍報." "Street", but in fact, it has no more posts, only a bunch of brand-name shops on the ground.

Another example is the full opening of the Tuen Ma Line in June this year. The Songhuangtai station is located in Kowloon City, commonly known as "Little Thailand". Together with the Kai Tak Road/Sapu Road redevelopment project, the rents of shops in the area have also increased; according to "Hong Kong 01" morning. According to previous reports, the local Thai organization stated that five years ago, there were 100 Thai shops in Kowloon City. Now that 30 related shops have been evacuated from Kowloon City, the "Little Thailand" may be disintegrated.

There are also examples of "bottom-up" gentrification, but the results are also not satisfactory.

Sham Shui Po is one of the oldest places in Hong Kong. It can be said to be a "poor district" in Hong Kong. However, in recent years, there have been many coffee shops, art galleries, record shops and other specialty shops on Tai Nan Street in the district. A cup of regular coffee is also worth it. A few dozen yuan is "incompatible" with the grassroots citizens in the same district.

This phenomenon has been widely reported by the media, and the public is also worried about "Sham Shui Po is the new Brooklyn" (Sham Shui Po is the new Brooklyn).

It can be said that whether it is "bottom-up" or "top-down", gentrification has a wide impact on the Hong Kong community. Not only does it cause the grassroots to have nowhere to stay, it also gradually loses its unique local culture.

Regarding the various issues brought up by gentrification, "Hong Kong 01" interviewed the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Department of Applied Social Sciences Lecturer Zou Tongming, City University of Hong Kong's Department of Chinese and History Associate Professor Li Peiran, and Hong Kong University's Department of Architecture, Department of Building Conservation Assistant Professor Yu Jiasheng, to the gentry The concepts of socialization, community culture, and community economy are sorted out, and then how to conserve community culture in the wave of development.

For details, please read the 293th "Hong Kong 01" Electronic Weekly Newsletter (November 29, 2021) "

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