Socio-spatial analysis of railway extension into old urban area : case study of Shatin-Central line in To Kwa Wan district

Abstract

Urban development in Hong Kong started along the coastal areas of Victoria Harbour. Both Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island are the oldest urban area in Hong Kong and some tenement buildings in Hong Kong were built before Second World War. The society and the Government have aware of the safety risks of these building and there have been voices for improving the building conditions of these tenement buildings by “rehabilitation” even dismantling them by building new ones as “redevelopment”. It comes to the attention of the author that urban redevelopment in To Kwa Wan (TKW), one of the oldest inner city area in Hong Kong has speeded up in recent decade, i.e. there are around 20 new buildings redeveloped and completed in the district. One significant development in this district in recent decade is the new railway construction of Shatin-Central Line (SCL) that TKW station was completed in 2021. Moreover, the public is interested in the effects of urban redevelopment in TKW because newly built buildings changes in its spatial design and the neighbourhood members also change in recent years. This raises the author’s interest in analysing the social and spatial effects of TKW district after the construction of SCL. To achieve this, this study utilizes theoretical insights from the sociological term “gentrification”, which was defined by Davidson and Less (2005, p.1170) that comprises four major elements: 1) reinvestment of capital; 2) social upgrading of locale by higher income groups; 3) landscape change; and 4) direct or indirect displacement of low-income groups. The analysis in this dissertation follows the sequence of the above-mentioned elements in a quantitatively way, i.e. by using published data to illustrate the elements of gentrification of capital investment, social upgrading and landscape change. Last but not least, analysis of “displacement” would be conducted by using primary e data collected by the author through interviews with stakeholders in TKW district.