A longitudinal study of open space zoning and development in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study evaluates the land-use zoning and development of open space in the hyper-dense, land-hungry city of Hong Kong. The existing literature has generally found that its open space provision is unsatisfactory in both quality and quantity. The study fills the research gap by undertaking an archive research and interpreting the past zoning data from a total of 1573 statutory town plans published between 1965 and 2006. It elucidates how the current ungenerous provision of public open space can be attributed to a number of historical, political and institutional factors including: inefficient division of government responsibilities, lack of public representation, pro-growth planning ideology, revenue-maximizing land sale policy and privatization of urban space. This study concludes that the development of public open space has been prejudiced under the statutory planning system and land allocation process. It suggests that the shrinking of public open space may cause excessive development density that aggravates the deteriorating urban climate in Hong Kong.