Professor W.G. Gregory, B Arch, ARIBA, comments on the proposals for Urban Renewal in Hong Kong
THE Report of the Working Party
on Slum Clearance dated October 11, 1965, which was recently pub- lished, evoked but little response in the daily press either from the editors. or the public who write to newspapers.
Perhaps it was thought that it would go the way of other working party reports recommending startling chan- ges, like for example that on Sub- divided Buildings, and was considered a waste of time to comment upon, except as is common in Hong Kong to look only at the costs involved it is always a question of how much will it cost and not how much good will it do?
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Slum Clearance however is a differ- ent matter and unless something pretty substantial is done and soon, we shall have some extensive parts of Hong Kong "tumbling about our ears” with obvious consequences.
The following comments on certain of the proposals, do not reflect on the qualifications, competency or experi- ence of the members of the Working Party, who have put a great deal of thought and time into the formulation of their proposals. These are impres- sive in their detail and convincing in their feasibility. However, perhaps be- cause of a diversity of opinion which they shared among themselves, the proposals have come out as a much watered-down version of what they should have been. Reading between the lines the impression is obtained of a compromise solution designed for unanimous agreement of the Working Party. It would have been a much healthier report had there been refer- ence to majority decisions and minori- ty opinions.
Dirty Words
The Working Party recommends that "where a high proportion of buildings are so dilapidated and po- tentially dangerous as to endanger the occupants or inhibit redevelopment of adjoining sites, or where population density and occupancy rates are so high as to render the buildings a po- tential danger to the health and safety of the occupants, the area should be scheduled for Urban Renewal." The Working Party has defined Urban Renewal as "the demolition of old and dilapidated sub-standard buildings the replanning of the cleared area to pro- vide improved communications and amenities and its redevelopment in ac- cordance with an approved plan."
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The Working Party has quickly got
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE MAN WHO SELLS RAT-TRAPS?
rid of the dirty words "slum clear- ance" and has substituted the current term "urban renewal" which in fact covers a multitude of town planning activities.
It is true that originally Urban Renewal was concerned with slum clearance but to-day in the "best circles" it has come to be concerned with the renovation of extensive areas of the city's core, where in fact resi- dential accommodation is normally of limited extent. It is also identified with the structural renewal of agglo- merations and the modernisation of the urban net-work; it is very much more than a technique for replacing old buildings with new on a large scale.
Whilst the Working Party has drawn attention to the need for im- proving communications within the slum clearance zone, this by no means meets the requirements of a proper urban renewal programme which could involve the creation of entirely new communication net-works and even the introduction of entirely new forms of transport, and in the present context both would seem to be neces- sary. The term "improved communi- cations and amenities" is an unfor- tunate one if taken literally, consider- ing the existing lack in the areas con- cerned: one would hope that at least "satisfactory" conditions would be aimed at.
Major Defects
Of three major defects in the re- commendations of the Working Party the first is the concept that urban renewal can be restricted to certain areas of a city. It is agreed that slum
areas
present the worst problems from a social, health and aesthetic point of view, but the essential fea- ture of modern urban renewal plans is the redevelopment of the whole of the urban area in such a way that all the functions of a city are resuscitated and improved to meet modern condi- tions and requirements.
Urban Renewal in its modern con- text is concerned with the restoration of the function of cities: the tradition- al, commercial, social, cultural and administrative functions as well as new functions, such as traffic circula- tion and vehicle parking. It is there- fore of the highest importance that slum clearance and rehabilitation be carried out within the context of an overall plan for the city.
Looking at the
area proposed
for the urban renewal programme in the western district of Hong Kong Island one becomes suspicious when one sees the existing main street pat- tern used to define designated areas, One of the problems that faced the Department of Architecture of the University of Hong Kong when study- ing this particular area was the pro- blem of defining the areas for stage developments. Inevitably in the first place the whole of the Urban Rene- wal District to use the Working Party's own term has to be planned as a part of the overall plan for, in this case, the City of Victoria.
Then the District itself has to be comprehensively planned as a whole and in turn the subsidiary Urban Renewal Areas have to be planned in detail to conform to the District Plan. otherwise a whole series of unrelated
developments will occur. Further. more. the fragmentation of open space which occurs by the proposed process makes these spaces less valuable and less usable.
Tidying Up
The proposed outline use zoning plan included in the report cannot be re- garded as a comprehensive town plan, but only as a tidying-up plan; it also well shows the fragmentation of the open spaces, which are in fact the "left-overs." The final effect if the Working Party's proposals are imple- mented will be that of a series of densely occupied islands in a delta of flowing traffic. A better picture, which the studies of the Department of Architecture suggest, is given by replanning the slum districts as dense- ly occupied islands. interspaced with large areas of open space, with all through-traffic directed to circumfer- ential routes. (In this respect the de- velopment of Caine Road and Bon- ham Road into a major traffic route would seem to be essential; but, of course, in fact, it is too late to do anything about this road, where so much redevelopment has been permit- ted on existing building lines.)
It is better to increase the nett densities in the residential zones if it permits the creation of large unified areas of open space, where greenery can grow and recreational spaces can be provided, especially for children.
some
The proposed primary and secon dary schools to be included in these slum-cleared areas should be related to these large open spaces, so that
Far East Architect & Builder September, 1966