The making of a place : developing a placemaking model for sustaining the character of communities under urban renewal in Hong Kong

Abstract

Local culture contributes to a sense of identity for the residents and hence building up the solidarity of the community. However, many old urban districts that have developed such cultural character over time are being destroyed when undergoing urban renewal. The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has been long criticised by the public of forsaking the local community values. In the legislative Council meeting in 2010, some members had pointed out that the urban renewal approach has neglected the social ecology and network of the affected districts. As stated in the URA website, people-oriented is one of their core values. Yet, the facts have showed that the authority is not going the way they have promised– Lee Tung Street is a case in point. The question is: is this wasteful “throw-away-the-character” development approach to urban renewal necessary? Could the established cultural character be retained and incorporated into the renewed community? Physical changes in Hong Kong’s urban areas are inevitable, and as such, conservation should not over-focus on conserving random individual buildings, but rather, should be more holistic to what is the character of the community, especially in terms of the community’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and associated character-defining elements (CDEs), that has been created. The author would like to argue that the character of a place should be the key element to be identified and incorporated into urban renewal, so that the community will be able to have a sustained and continuing cultural heritage identity without coming in conflict with development. The research will focus on three of the urban renewal target areas in To Kwa Wan, designated by the URA as KC-010, 011& 014. The author will investigate and identify the place-characters of this area, and apply the concept of community place-making to formulate a process that can be applied in urban renewal planning to contribute to a more integrated conservation-cum-development approach for older urban areas.