"Urban aging" has become more and more serious with the passage of time, and Hong Kong is facing a deteriorating housing shortage, the redevelopment of old districts has become more important.
The planning of the old districts is outdated and the quality of life of residents has declined. Redevelopment can enable residents to live in safe buildings and improve the quality of the environment through re-planning.
However, the Urban Renewal Authority, which is in charge of redevelopment projects, seems to often disappoint the citizens. Many of the communities under their hands have become "premium zones" that residents cannot afford. Not only are property prices expensive, but they also cause serious "gentrification". , Prices and rents are rising, small shops are forced to move, and community culture is gradually lost.
All these "after-effects" of reconstruction are undoubtedly an exploitation of grassroots citizens, leaving them nowhere to stay in the community.
The results of the Yau Wang reconstruction study go against the wishes of the public
The supply of land and housing in Hong Kong is tight, and the redevelopment of old areas has become one of the government's methods to increase housing supply.
In recent years, the URA has actively studied the reconstruction plans of various districts, and old districts such as To Kwa Wan, Kowloon City, and Yau Mong District have become one of their redevelopment goals.
Among them, the Yau Mong District Redevelopment Study Report was released at the same time as this year’s Policy Address, and pointed out that Yau Mong District is facing various community problems, including structural instability of buildings, serious shortage of open space, excessive traffic load, high air pollution index, etc. Wait.
In order to improve the environmental quality of the Yau Mong District, the URA proposed five development nodes in the research report, including the construction of a large waterway park and a large open plaza, the revitalization of the Mong Kok market and the Yau Ma Tei fruit market, and the provision of Grade A office buildings and Other mixed-use buildings.
Ye Yiming, a professor in the Department of Public Policy and Political Science at City University, pointed out that this study can show that the government hopes that the URA can carry out long-term planning in redevelopment projects and abandon the past "small repairs and small supplements" planning model.
The URA is actively studying the redevelopment plans of various districts. Old districts such as To Kwa Wan, Kowloon City, and Yau Mong District have become one of their redevelopment goals.
(Photo by Huang Baoying)
However, the redevelopment plan proposed by the URA is not only inconsistent with the 2010 Yau Tsim Mong District Council's research report on the basis of public opinion, but even contrary to the wishes of the residents.
Residents expect that after the urban renewal, the living environment and traffic problems can be solved, but can the above urban development really solve the problems in the area?
The outside world seems to have great reservations about the URA’s planning report, and three extended discussions have been put forward. First, whether it is feasible to rebuild by shifting the plot ratio; second, whether the integration of neighborhoods will stifle the street culture; third , Whether the activation of different locations has a certain impact on the preservation of community characteristics.
However, Chen Jianqing and Ye Yiming, members of the local research society, hold a less optimistic view on the above three issues.
First of all, the feasibility of transferring plot ratio in Yau Mong District is quite low. Ye Yiming pointed out that there are many old buildings built in the 1960s in Yau Mong District, and the plot ratio at that time has been exhausted. Even if this method can increase housing supply, But the technical difficulty is very high.
Moreover, Chen Jianqing also has reservations about whether the transfer of plot ratio is beneficial to the residents in the local area. He believes that if the plot ratio is transferred to a single site, the building will "rise higher and higher", causing a "screen effect" and blocking the west. The sea breeze from Kowloon has made the air in Mong Kok even more impervious.
Secondly, the integration of blocks has the opportunity to have an impact on the culture of the district. Ye Yiming is worried that the integration of multiple blocks into one site will stifle the traditional street culture and turn the street into a new development area, losing the characteristics of the city.
Furthermore, revitalizing the Mong Kok market and the Yau Ma Tei fruit market is actually of no benefit to the conservation of these places.
Chen Jianqing believes that the economic activities of the market and the fruit bar can to a certain extent support the needs of residents and the characteristics of the region.
On the other hand, "revitalization" is mostly used for historical buildings that are no longer in use, but markets and fruit bars are frequently used buildings or locations. They may even transform themselves over time. Chen Jianqing reiterated: "These places were originally Is it some "living" things, do you need to revitalize it? A lively area, but to activate it, the only meaning is to snatch those land resources, upgrade the value of the land, and change a group of more high-end people in. This is about real estate, not "activation"."
Chen Jianqing, a member of the local research group, holds a dismal and questionable view of the Yau Wang reconstruction plan, believing that the plan will cause the local area to lose its characteristics.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Reconstruction is easy to cause "gentrification" and deprive small shops of living space
Indeed, whether it is the plan proposed by the Yau Wang reconstruction study or the URA's past reconstruction projects, they will naturally become "real estate", causing the phenomenon of "gentrification" in many old districts.
What "gentrification" destroys is not the culture itself, but the connections between people in the community.
Take the revitalization of markets and fruit bars as an example. If the URA turns it into a tourist attraction, it will have the opportunity to increase the rent of shops in the area, which will make the original merchants unable to afford it and be forced to leave, destroying the economic network of the community.
Zou Chongming, a lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at PolyU, pointed out that the role of community economy is to provide a cross-class urban space, so as to be compatible with more disadvantaged communities and make the community more open and diverse.
When the community becomes more diverse and more businesses connect with different classes in the district, its unique culture will gradually evolve.
Li Peiran, an associate professor of the Department of Chinese and History at the former City University, explained that the convergence of culture is not a deliberately formed group, but some people find a living space in a certain place, and then slowly form a unique characteristic in the district.
Therefore, if the community economy is affected by "gentrification," the culture will also evolve and become unable to accommodate the grassroots.
As Xu Shirong, a professor of geography at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan, said in the recommended preface of "How to Murder a City": "Gentrification (that is, gentrification) is a battle of economic cleansing. It is also a class struggle. Social weakness seems destined to be The losing party must therefore be the target of forced eviction.” It can be said that the reconstruction plan of the URA and the developer is exactly an action to “clean up the peaceful land”.
If the community economy is affected by "gentrification," the culture will also evolve, and it will become unable to accommodate the grassroots. The most typical example is Hie Tie Street.
(Photo by Li Zetong)
Redevelopment of old districts must be "people-oriented"
When the URA considers redevelopment, it often has a "beautiful vision", hoping that there will be a "new atmosphere" after the urban renewal, such as a larger sense of space, more green land, and cleaner neighborhoods.
However, this kind of thinking has caused the URA to ignore the "elephant in the house"-the demographic characteristics of the old district.
Many old districts have a high poverty index. Take Yau Mong District as an example. There are as many as 42,441 unsuitable housing units in Yau Tsim Mong District. Can the redevelopment area be able to accommodate them in the future?
The URA’s past projects seem to be unable to achieve this goal. They did not even mention in the Yau Mong Research Report on how to resettle sub-house tenants affected by the redevelopment.
Ye Yiming said that the society now has considerable demands for the URA. It is hoped that the authorities will build more public rental housing when planning for reconstruction, or build a mixture of public rental housing and HOS housing for sale. However, the URA’s response is to provide "Hong Kong people First home".
The URA will make such a response, which is inevitably related to the profits they can make.
However, since the URA's mission is "people-oriented", it should implement this concept to the end.
Ye Yiming believes that even if the cost of building public housing is high and the return is low, the government can at least provide subsidies to build and sell HOS flats to meet the needs of some local residents.
In addition, the URA should retain some small shops in the old district with different policies to ensure that the grassroots have room for survival in the community. Provided by profit-making organizations and shops.” Yu Jiasheng, assistant professor of the Department of Building Conservation at the University of Hong Kong, pointed out that the URA or the stakeholders involved in the redevelopment project can maintain this element, and in fact can help the area to transition smoothly over the redevelopment time.
In fact, the purpose of urban renewal is to improve the quality of life of residents, make the community more diversified, and achieve the goal of sustainable urban development.
However, if the leaders of the redevelopment project, including the URA and developers, choose to blind the cruel reality and only see all kinds of unrealistic visions, even if there are more greening and tidy streets after the redevelopment, it will only put the cart before the horse.
When the URA considers redevelopment, it often has a "beautiful vision", hoping that there will be a "new atmosphere" after the urban renewal, such as a larger sense of space, more green land, and cleaner neighborhoods.
(Photo by Zhang Haowei)