Really enjoyed talking to Barry WILSON and louie sieh at ReThink HK yesterday morning, talking about how we can create better, urban places.
For my money, Hong Kong has the potential to be one of the most live-able cities in the world. As a resident here for nearly 10 years, I love the variety of districts and ways to travel between them; our public transportation is among the very best in the world with the vast majority of people within just a few minutes of one mode of transport or other. The proximity of the country parks to the city is of course a defining characteristic, giving people somewhere to retreat, to walk, to cycle and reconnect with nature.
But we mustn’t allow the contrast between 'city' and 'green' to become too extreme: we seem to be putting too much emphasis on vehicles at the expense of the human experience. Streets have become dominated by private cars, taxis, buses and delivery vans while pedestrians have been squeezed - relegated to narrow, concrete paths that often lack shade of any description. In fact, pedestrians are often exiled to elevated walkways devoid of character, giving vehicles even greater access to the streets of Hong Kong.
As an architect I think we need to soften the edges between the ‘zones’ we have created: between the green and the city; public and private; inside and outside; and pedestrian and vehicular.
We should look hard at options to de-motorise parts of the city, closing roads in high foot traffic areas (there are lots of successful precedents for this in other cities) and adding more 'green' to our streets. This would encourage people to take a stroll, rather than march from place to place, taking time to browse shops. It would also provide opportunities for hard-hit F&B outlets to spill out onto the pavements, creating longer dwell times for customers and potentially driving up how much each customer spends.
Doing this needs a re-balancing of priorities and better use of the wide range of assets we have as a city. Cars – even electric ones – should not be prioritised at the expense of creating a livable, walkable, cyclable city. We have an amazing city but with a little bit of thought, and perhaps more intra-governmental collaboration, it could be even better.
It has been sensational working with you Sujal Shah. Your care for technical excellence, attention to details, eye for best practices, is an example for all of the tech community. I will miss our walking 1:1s.