Sustainable City: The Hong Kong Case

§Text Passage

1Summary 重點摘要

Urban growth and urbanisation make Hong Kong crowded and land scarce; building a sustainable city means balancing urban planning, public housing and new towns with conservation — trading off prosperity, equity and environmental quality.

2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary

3Step by step Steps

1. Step 1: Urban growth versus urbanisationUrban growth is the increase of urban population and built-up area; urbanisation is the rising share of urban population in the total — they usually occur together but are distinct ideas. Hong Kong's urbanisation is nearly complete: the vast majority live in urban areas and new towns, while developed land covers only about a quarter of the territory, so the land-population tension is acute. For example, over the post-war decades Hong Kong's urban area spread outward from the old cores of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, absorbing former villages — the most direct picture of urban growth and the starting point of this unit.
2. Step 2: Why cities keep growingThe curriculum lists five causes of urban growth and urbanisation: natural increase of urban population, rural-to-urban migration, reclassification of rural land, changing employment opportunities, and economic and transport development. For example, Tsuen Wan was still countryside in the mid-twentieth century; planned as a new town its land was reclassified, industry provided jobs, and roads and rail followed — within decades it became a town of several hundred thousand, showing all five causes at work in one place. In answers, map each cause onto Hong Kong's reality and explain how they reinforce one another, rather than writing only 'population grew'.
3. Step 3: The cycle of internal changeA city's internal structure evolves in a cycle: first urbanisation, as people and industry pour into the centre; then suburbanisation, as rising incomes and better transport push population outward; if the big city declines and people leave, counter-urbanisation follows; finally renewal draws people back — reurbanisation. For example, old districts such as Wan Chai once lost population and their buildings aged, but recent redevelopment and new housing have brought young households back — reurbanisation at the end of the cycle. Mastering this cycle lets you explain any city's spatial change over time, a common frame in data questions.
4. Step 4: Sprawl, encroachment and renewalA growing city experiences both expansion and renewal: urban sprawl is low-density expansion of the built area into the countryside; urban encroachment is the gradual absorption of farmland and green belts at the urban edge; urban renewal redevelops dilapidated districts and improves facilities and the environment. For example, farmland in the New Territories has been progressively occupied by warehouses, open storage and housing — classic encroachment — while the Urban Renewal Authority's projects are renewal. Both need planning guidance: unplanned expansion creates chaotic land use, while one-directional renewal may uproot existing communities and destroy neighbourhood networks.
5. Step 5: The concept of sustainable developmentThe common definition comes from the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Applied to cities it spans three pillars — an economy with vitality and jobs, a just society with accessible housing and services, and environmental quality that is not sacrificed. For example, adding housing supply at the cost of filling in high-value wetlands requires weighing all three, not just economic gain. Sustainable development is therefore the yardstick for every urban issue in this unit — use it as your evaluative framework.
6. Step 6: Public housing and new townsOne main route is providing public housing and building new towns. A new town is not just housing but a fully planned community: homes together with industrial and commercial land, schools, hospitals, parks and rail links. For example, Sha Tin New Town, developed since the 1970s, houses about 700,000 people, with parks and cycle tracks along the Shing Mun River, rail links to the city, and a mix of public rental, subsidised and private housing — a fairly complete model. Together the new towns accommodate about 3.5 million people, roughly half of Hong Kong, easing urban crowding and freeing urban land for renewal.
7. Step 7: Regeneration, re-imaging — and the priceBetter and more thorough urban planning, urban regeneration and place re-imaging form another set of approaches: statutory outline zoning plans control land use, rail-based planning guides growth, and old districts are redeveloped and re-imaged. But building a sustainable city has costs: land formation involves reclamation and land resumption, often triggering conflict with residents, rural communities and green groups; infrastructure is expensive; countryside and coastal ecosystems come under pressure. For example, resuming land for new development areas has provoked years of compensation disputes with farmers and owners. Sustainability is no free lunch — facing the costs and explaining the trade-offs earns the marks.

4Diagrams Diagrams

5Worked example Example

6Common mistakes Mistakes

7Quick check Quick check

8Recap Recap

• Urban growth = more people and built-up area; urbanisation = rising urban share of population
• Five causes: natural increase, rural-to-urban migration, reclassification, job changes, economic and transport development
• Internal cycle: urbanisation, suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation, reurbanisation — plus sprawl, encroachment and renewal
• Sustainable development meets present needs without hurting future generations; balance economy, society and environment
• Hong Kong's routes: public housing and new towns (about 3.5 million residents), planning, regeneration — costs must not be ignored