REVIEW
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Nonetheless, standards though adequate initially, are now less than satisfactory. In designing the first resettlement estates low cost and speed of construction had been the main criteria; and indeed by those methods a very considerable number of people had been quickly rehoused in simple accommodation with elementary com- munal facilities that were, by the standards of the time, regarded by the occupants as entirely acceptable. In the last 10 years standards have changed. Squatter families have also become comparatively more affluent and they demand and are able to pay for better accommodation. The design of the estates has been progressively improved, with a corresponding increase in rents, until the Mark VI designs are indistinguishable from government low-cost housing, and it is undisputed that the oldest estates are overcrowded and obsolete. They now house some 500,000 people and it will be a very con- siderable task to rehabilitate them all. However, a start is being made on the conversion to more modern standards of Shek Kip Mei, which was the first resettlement estate to be built.
While this massive expansion of public housing was taking place a great deal of old private property was also being redeveloped in the main urban areas, although this was interrupted between 1966 and 1969 by a recession in the building industry, accentuated by the events of 1967. Since 1969, private redevelopment has resumed and the number of dilapidated properties is steadily being reduced. In addition, an Urban Renewal District has been defined on Hong Kong Island, in the Western district which is characterised by its narrow winding streets, unattractively antiquated buildings and lack of light and air. Compulsory acquisition of old properties in part of the district (the pilot scheme area) has begun; most of these properties stand on very small, lots which will be combined into larger sites for redevelopment. Together with the acquisition of sites for open space and other public uses, this will ensure an improved environment and be the most noticeable example yet of town plan- ning (apart from reclamations and the new towns like Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan-Kwai Chung) to progress beyond the outline zoning stage.
The problems of housing and the progress that has been made in dealing with them stand as the principal exemplar of the progress of Hong Kong as a whole. The magnitude of the task of rebuilding a community after World War II and the re-occupation of Hong Kong meant that each problem had to be dealt with urgently as it arose, with little breathing space for concerted planning. This particular form of urgency has now passed and after a period of