1 URA turns to people power
Helen Wu , SCMP, Mar 03, 2008

Harry’s view

The Urban Renewal Authority is considering a change in strategy - widening its focus from individual redevelopment projects to the surrounding district and community.

The ground-breaking changes would also allow for a site's plot ratio, or permitted development density, to be transferred to another project.

Such a district-based approach would allow greater flexibility for holistic town planning and ensure that people's aspirations for their community were considered, URA chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen has told the South China Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) .

New assessments are planned to re-estimate the number of old buildings in need of redevelopment. The new survey will not only take into account the age of buildings but also the residents' living conditions and social networks.

The rethink in strategy has partly been prompted by the opposition expressed in recent years to some urban renewal projects.

"We have people saying that the URA is destroying the local character of an area, or its social network," Mr Cheung said. "Some of the voices have prolonged the time taken to complete the projects. The effect is that the time for the people to get out of their terrible living conditions is delayed. It is no good for Hong Kong."

A number of redevelopment projects spearheaded by the URA have been strongly criticised, including Wedding Card Street in Wan Chai and Sneaker Street in Mong Kok.

Reasons for the opposition vary, but some critics argue that the URA has ignored public opinion on the projects.

An advantage of holistic planning, Mr Cheung said, would be that the plot ratio - which determines the size of a building on a particular site - could be transferred to a nearby site to make way for community facilities that addressed the needs of the district.

"When a so-called toothpick building is torn down, we might not build another. We could replace it with community space - a community hall or a small park perhaps," he said. There is presently no room for such an arrangement as the URA must view each redevelopment project, and its financial viability, individually.

Mr Cheung said the planned bottom-up approach would put more emphasis on engaging the public.

"The public will be asked to look ahead and envision what they want to see for the community in 15 to 20 years' time," he said. "We will develop a blueprint for the area and ask them `is it what you want?' After that, we will modify the (plans) according to their opinions and turn their vision into implementable features of the individual projects."

But Mr Cheung said the URA would need to be given more planning responsibility should the change in emphasis be realised - possibly with a certain degree of authority to formulate planning blueprints for the districts as well.