WITH MY TONGUE IN MY CHEEK
by Professor W.C. Gregory, B. Areh,, A.R.B.I.A.
LANDLESS?
THERE IS NO LAND. This is
the heart-rending cry of devel- opers and of the professional men called in to advise them.
There is no land. A statement that would sound odd to the stranger who has assiduously read his Annual Report of the Colony of Hong Kong and Tregear's "Land Use in Hong Kong" and from which he has deduced that only approximately 18 per cent of the land of the Colony is utilised.
What the developer means, of course, is that there is a shortage of land ready for development. That is to say, either easy to develop or economic to develop within his own conception of economy.
The ribbon development that was permitted to occur in many of these, so-called. well-developed countries between the two
wars, had lead people to expect to have provided for them, on account of easy access and services, land described under that terrible appellation "ripe for development.'
This uncontrolled ribbon develop. ment has been one of the greatest scourges of the twentieth century, a snake eating its own tail until it has devoured itself. a chain reaction leading to the final eclipse of all things. Fortunately, it was checked. before the last choking effect was realized, but the speculator's memory of its benefits derived lingers on.
Modern planning techniques do not lead to the sterilization of devel- opment, but to controlled develop- ment with the onus placed fairly and squarely on the developer to develop properly, to provide a comprehensive service, to provide the internal cir- culation road, to provide the com- munal services and other require- ments of a comprehensive scheme.
In putting these thoughts forward, the sloping steepness of much of this unused land is not overlooked. Hong
Kong, it must be remembered, is not the first place in the world that has this form of terrain, and we are at a point when we have to face up to the development of hill sides and find ways and means not only of financing the initial stages but of planning it.
This suggests a new approach conventional planning will not do; this, in turn suggests research, and research in this instance might start with a study of the way the problem has been tackled elsewhere Tananarive in Madagascar, Gibraltar. at San Francisco, in the pinnacled hill villages of Spain, and where you will.
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This study will indicate methods to be avoided as well as stimulate new ideas. Part of the answer may be found in new means of public transport. The heavy ponderous buses which are almost a traditional feature of city transport are surely out-dated.
Who knows what the answer is, until the problem in its modern set- ting has been studied?
All those concerned with building and development can play a part in this research. The first step is to rid the mind of the flat site complex. One thing that modern architecture has shown us, is the advantage to be gained from the consideration of levels. The flat site is often a hin- drance in solving circulation pro- blems, and many types of building can be better planned where access, for instance, can be obtained from the ground at different levels.
In Hong Kong, there is in fact a great area of land available for development for many purposes, but as yet, it waits to be opened up.
This operation should be a two- team effort. with the Government on the one hand providing the com- munication system and developers on the other providing the develop-
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER — VOLUME 16, NUMBER 1
ment. But any further tendency to sell the land directly on either side of any new road or road system must be stopped at the outset, and only land well back from the com- munication system should made available to the public.
These remarks are so obvious as to appear trite, but are we never to learn our lessons, Is it still possible to lease Crown Land bordering on the existing roads of the Colony? It would seem so.
Fundamentally, the so-called land shortage in Hong Kong is due to the lack of a regional plan, whereby widespread effort could be concen- trated at the most strategic points to encourage development. The Gov- ernmental proposals for new towns in the New Territories is obviously a step in the right direction, but one wonders if they are associated too directly with existing lines of com- munication and if it would not be more advantageous in the long run to develop more towards the hinter- land, and to bring Lantao,
for instance, into the scheme of things,
As part of any regional plan, the financing techniques form a part, and might take the form of a devel- opment fund, into which at least the revenue from Crown Land lease sales should go; this to be regarded as an investment. The fund should then be used to provide the roads and services to new lands and also distributed as repayable loans to developers.
The same is true in the broader field of town planning and there is a challenge in the thought of indus- trial development on steep slopes.
We do have land. It is admittedly difficult land to develop. But we cannot expect things always to be easy. We have to discover now methods of planning and ways of carrying out this work.
Nothing is impossible in Hong Kong.
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