Twelve years of conservation : issues and challenges in the implementation of Hong Kong’s built heritage conservation policy, 2007-2019

Abstract

This dissertation aims to study the development of Hong Kong’s Built Heritage Conservation Policy (BHCP) from 2007 to now. The research has four goals. First, to define the reason(s) and origin(s), also the implementation status of the BHCP promoted by the Government since 2007. Second, to examine the issues and challenges of these policies. Third, to evaluate and sum up the pros and cons of the above BHCP. Finally, to foresee and recommend how the policy can be revised in the next ten years. The study focuses on the Hong Kong’s BHCP since 2007. It also focuses on issues and challenges encountered during the 12 years of the policy’s implementation from the starting year in 2007 to the current year (when this dissertation is completed) in 2019. The starting year for this dissertation symbolised as a starting point for this study, as it is the year of the highest point of the conservation movement since handover, causing a series of BHCP carried out by the Government. The ending year for this dissertation serves as an appropriate ending for the research, as it is the year when Tai Kwun (the revitalized former Central Police Station Compound), Hong Kong’s biggest and most ambitious built heritage conservation project, celebrated its achievement of attracting over 3 million visitors since its opening in 2018. This span of 12 years would therefore provide a suitable review period to assess the success as well as challenges of the BHCP. Throughout the research, there are five questions that the author would like to find out: (1) to define the Built Heritage Conservation Policy; (2) to discover the factors which lead to the implementation of “New” BHCP; (3) to examine the issues and challenges in the policy’s implementation; (4) to analyse the pros and cons of these policies; and (5) to find out a potential future direction for the BHCP in the next 12 years.