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and Open Spaces Strategy' and take positive actions. In the preliminary stage of land use planning, it should request the departments concerned to strictly and properly implement the strategy of providing more recreation and open spaces, at least meeting the standards stipulated by the Government. If the Council is aware of any development projects in which the occupation ratios of such spaces are not up to the standard, it should exercise its influence and reflect the situation to the departments concerned and fight for more spaces instead of adopting a passive approach. Some existing recreation and open spaces are situated at undesirable locations, e.g. at roadsides, next to expressways, or at places not easily accessible, such as those which are high above the ground but do not have any easy access. Therefore, in designating such spaces, the Council should, apart from ensuring that the allocation is adequate, pay attention to the quality of the spaces allocated and should select quiet sites with plenty of fresh air and easy access.
Apart from fighting for more recreation and open spaces, the Council also shoulders grave responsibilities in their design and development. In designing and planning the uses of approved sites, the Council has to take various factors into consideration.
Owing to the shortage of flat land, most of the recreation and open spaces in Hong Kong are developed on hill slopes. In planning how the sites are to be used and in developing their designs, one should ensure that such spaces blend well with the surrounding environment in order to utilize resources effectively and to provide facilities that are both attractive and practical. This important responsibility naturally falls on landscape architects. There is an acute shortage of this kind of architects in government departments. The Government, I think, should recruit a sufficient number of experienced landscape architects for the departments in need of such staff such as the Urban Council and the Planning Department, in order to cope with the demand in the development of recreation and open spaces in Hong Kong.
In designing such spaces, the Council also has to consider their uses carefully, for they can be put to a wide range of uses such as parks, piazzas, sports grounds, children's playgrounds, etc. In deciding their uses, the Council should take account of social development and understand clearly the needs of the district concerned such as age distribution of the population, cultural and other characteristics, the resources available, etc., in order to provide spaces that can meet the needs of development.
With the rapid changes that are taking place in Hong Kong, many existing recreation and open spaces, such as the famous Victoria Park, can no longer cater to the needs of the public. The Council should pay more attention to this situation. Apart from making every effort to improve and maintain the existing facilities, it should consider re-developing their designs and layouts to tie in with social changes.
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IV. Conclusion Recreation and open spaces are of considerable importance to the people's lives and to the community as a whole. As the Urban Council plays a very important role in providing recreation and leisure services for the public, I hope it will adopt a more active and practical approach to matters relating to recreation and open spaces in 1994.
With these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):—Mr. Chairman, As Chairman of the Museums Select Committee, I choose today to leave the museum affairs to be reported and discussed back in the Museums Select Committee. I would rather like however, to speak on the topic of 'the Impact of Urban Council Capital Work Projects on the Visual Environment' since now Visual Art has been a commonly concerned subject of the community.
Being one of the largest developers in our city and one of the major client departments of the Architectural Services Department of the Central Government, the Urban Council's capital works programme has an average budget of hundreds of million dollars per year covering the provision and maintenance of many municipal facilities to the community. Since architecture and landscape gardening are subjects among the Visual Arts, the Council's influence in producing aesthetically satisfactory buildings and open spaces will certainly contribute very much to the city's visual environment as a whole.
I am glad to learn that our Capital Works Select Committee has already tasked its Capital Works Procedure Sub-Committee to scrutinize all the elevational designs of Urban Council projects so that the Council's corporate image can be enhanced and thereby the better quality of the visual environment ensured.
Indeed, all such building forms and facades as those of the Indoor Games Halls, the Market Complexes, the major civic buildings, down to the RCPs and public toilets, etc., should be carefully designed and treated. All the parks, gardens and sitting-out areas should have more green and less paved areas and have specific themes and landscape gardening styles without being just repetitive, boring and stereo-typed out-door space. Being culturally related to China, why have the beauty of the traditional Chinese gardens been lost in Hong Kong? Why the Japanese can produce small gardens for meditation in confined areas and our small gardens have only children's play equipment and have no spiritual appeal? Are these not areas for review?
As the origin of art is related to human activities, Visual Art is therefore not limited within the museums but part of our daily life in the city's macro-visual environment. Sculptures, fountains, murals and installation arts... should find their proper matrices in urban open space and municipal buildings.
Visual environment should not necessarily only be limited to artistic taste and quality but also mental comfort and humanity. Cemeteries and crematoriums
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Page 80 of 132
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and Open Spaces Strategy' and take positive actions. In the preliminary stage of land use planning, it should request the departments concerned to strictly and properly implement the strategy of providing more recreation and open spaces, at least meeting the standards stipulated by the Government. If the Council is aware of any development projects in which the occupation ratios of such spaces are not up to the standard, it should exercise its influence and reflect the situation to the departments concerned and fight for more spaces instead of adopting a passive approach. Some existing recreation and open spaces are situated at undesirable locations, e.g. at roadsides, next to expressways, or at places not easily accessible, such as those which are high above the ground but do not have any easy access. Therefore, in designating such spaces, the Council should, apart from ensuring that the allocation is adequate, pay attention to the quality of the spaces allocated and should select quiet sites with plenty of fresh air and easy access.
Apart from fighting for more recreation and open spaces, the Council also shoulders grave responsibilities in their design and development. In designing and planning the uses of approved sites, the Council has to take various factors into consideration.
Owing to the shortage of flat land, most of the recreation and open spaces in Hong Kong are developed on hill slopes. In planning how the sites are to be used and in developing their designs, one should ensure that such spaces blend well with the surrounding environment in order to utilize resources effectively and to provide facilities that are both attractive and practical. This important responsibility naturally falls on landscape architects. There is an acute shortage of this kind of architects in government departments. The Government, I think, should recruit a sufficient number of experienced landscape architects for the departments in need of such staff such as the Urban Council and the Planning Department, in order to cope with the demand in the development of recreation and open spaces in Hong Kong.
In designing such spaces, the Council also has to consider their uses carefully, for they can be put to a wide range of uses such as parks, piazzas, sports grounds, children's playgrounds, etc. In deciding their uses, the Council should take account of social development and understand clearly the needs of the district concerned such as age distribution of the population, cultural and other characteristics, the resources available, etc., in order to provide spaces that can meet the needs of development.
With the rapid changes that are taking place in Hong Kong, many existing recreation and open spaces, such as the famous Victoria Park, can no longer cater to the needs of the public. The Council should pay more attention to this situation. Apart from making every effort to improve and maintain the existing facilities, it should consider re-developing their designs and layouts to tie in with social changes.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
IV. Conclusion Recreation and open spaces are of considerable importance to the people's lives and to the community as a whole. As the Urban Council plays a very important role in providing recreation and leisure services for the public, I hope it will adopt a more active and practical approach to matters relating to recreation and open spaces in 1994.
With these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. JASON YUEN KING-YUK (in English):—Mr. Chairman, As Chairman of the Museums Select Committee, I choose today to leave the museum affairs to be reported and discussed back in the Museums Select Committee. I would rather like however, to speak on the topic of 'the Impact of Urban Council Capital Work Projects on the Visual Environment' since now Visual Art has been a commonly concerned subject of the community.
Being one of the largest developers in our city and one of the major client departments of the Architectural Services Department of the Central Government, the Urban Council's capital works programme has an average budget of hundreds of million dollar per year covering the provision and maintenance of many municipal facilities to the community. Since architecture and landscape gardening are subjects among the Visual Arts, the Council's influence in producing aesthetically satisfactory buildings and open spaces will certainly contribute very much to the city's visual environment as a whole.
I am glad to learn that our Capital Works Select Committee has already tasked its Capital Works Procedure Sub-Committee to scrutinize all the elevational designs of Urban Council projects so that the Council's corporal image can be enhanced and thereby the better quality of the visual environment ensured.
Indeed, all such building forms and facades as those of the Indoor Games Halls, the Market Complexes, the major civic buildings, down to the RCPs and public toilets, etc., should be carefully designed and treated. All the parks, gardens and sitting-out areas should have more green and less paved areas and have specific themes and landscape gardening styles without being just repetitive, boring and stereo-typed out-door space. Being culturally related to China, why have the beauty of the traditional Chinese gardens been lost in Hong Kong? Why the Japanese can produce small gardens for meditation in confined areas and our small gardens have only children's play equipments and have no spiritual appeal? Are these not areas for review?
As the origin of art is related to human activities, Visual Art is therefore not limited within the museums but part of our daily life in the city's macro-visual environment. Sculptures, fountains, murals and installation arts... should find their proper matrices in urban open space and municipal buildings.
Visual environment should not necessarily only be limited to artistic taste and quality but also mental comfort and humanity. Cemeteries and crematoriums
Page 80 of 132
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Page 81 of 132
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