Flexible Housing, Compact City and Environmental Preservation: A Critical
Look at Hong Kong's Experience
Jia Beisi
Department of Architecture
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Abstract
This paper is both an anaiysis and case study on the inter-reiations among sustainabie
deveiopment, urban high density and flexible housing in the context of Hong Kong. lt
assumes that Hong Kong does not iead to sustainabie deveiopment uniess environmentai
policy promotes and rewards aitered energy and resource consumption patterns which
constrain development within ecoiogicai iimits. The paper points out that the pattern and
density of urban form within and between Settlements has a strong impact on urban energy
use patterns, the ability to maintain bio-diversity, and the quality of ijfe. intensification of land
use faciiitates the consewation of not only the land base, but also energy and resources
through improved efficiencies in housing, transportation and other infrastructure.
Sustainabie deveiopment requires a highiy dense urban form, to minimise energy and
resource consumption and environmentai impact.
However, high density also implies a iimited iiving area, which may bring constraints on iiving
demands, including privacy, individuaiity, variety of choice and freedom to change. The
paper observes that housing adaptability has been one soiution to fulfil all the functional
requirements within very smaii housing units in Hong Kong. Tenants accommodate
themseives by instaliing services, seiecting finishes on walls and fioors, and most significant,
Setting up room partitions. With the aid of a survey, changes made by residents in these
adaptable flats are reveaied. The paper argues that adaptability is living tradition, which
shouid be improved and reintegrated into new housing construction. The paper concludes
that a sustainable city needs a compact form, and a compact city requires higher degree of
functionai mixture and housing adaptabiiity to sustain increasingiy diversified and
individuaiised household demands.
1. INTRODUCTION
Hong Kong is located on the east bank of the Pearl River and extends over an area of 1068 sq.km.
comprising Hong Kong Island itself, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories and some 235 other
islands. Having a population over nearly 6.5 million and a total developable landmass of not much
more than 500 sq. km, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world, with
nearly 26,000 people per Square kilometre living in the central urban areas. (Fig.l). In Hong Kong,
with its history of free-market prosperity and land-lease through auctions, possibilities of making more
pleasant alternatives are limited. Despite rapid economic growth, environmental quality in general still
remains poor. Hong Kong has made a clear commitment to achieve sustainability in many areas of
economy and society that affect the environment. Housing is the biggest construction sector in any
city and it has a large impact of global environment, health quality, surrounding ecological patterns as
well as life style. Yet relatively little is understood about how sustainability is to be implemented in
Hong Kong with its specific economic, social, geographical, and historical condition.
2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MEANS LIMITED CONSUMPTION
Environmentalism in Hong Kong is largely a problem of pollution control. (Kwong, 1990) It does not
necessarily lead to sustainable development, because sustainabie development is a much broader
concept. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
Fig. 1 Map of Hong Kong showing urban area and natural park in overall geographic conditions.
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept contains two key
elements: the essential needs of population, especially the worlds poor, to which overriding priority
should be given; and limit of development imposed by the state of technology and social organization
and rates of (natural or managed) assimilation by the counterpart ecosystems (Corson, 1990). For a
developed economy, such as Hong Kong, altering over-consumptive lifestyles, reducing energy use
and resource extraction, maximizing local waste recycling should become essential objectives in the
city's rnission.
Local environmental protection normally targets on improving the living standard of a local population.
However, in the concept of sustainable development, living standards that go beyond the basic
minimum are not sustainable if consumption of energy and resources standards have disregard for
long-term and global sustainability. Consumption standards should be within the bounds of the
ecologically possible and to which all can reasonably aspire. Yet many of developed countries or
regions, including Hong Kong, live beyond the world's ecological means (Rees, 1992, Jia, 1999)
(Table.l). Any ecological System has a defined space to accumulate energy and resources within
itself. The dynamics of ecosysterns, like the tropical rainforests, achieve Eco-sustainability or
horneostatic balance, or what natural ecologists call "climax systems" of high diversity, large bio-mass,
and high stability through protection from rapid change and "through shifts of energy flows away from
production and towards the maintenance of the Systems itself. (Yanarella, 1992 p.762) Human
settlements typically seek to stall such ecosystems by high yielding of products and failing to
accumulate stabilising elements of organic matter. "There is increasing evidence to suggest that we
are breaking, or risking breaking, some important global carrying capacity thresholds." (European
Commission, 1996)
Table 1. Natural Resources Consumption and Pollutants of Hong Kong people in Comparison
1
C02 (Ton)
(Hong Kong Economic Daily, Sept. 10, 1999, P. a25)
2.55
Development area is more likely to become the hinterland and dumping area of already developed
areas. The economic interaction between Hong Kong and China justifies this statement. China has
been the main destination of export and re-export of plastic waste from Hong Kong. The annual total
of all plastic waste re-exported and exported to China from Hong Kong arnounted to 1.2 million tones
-
456 -
in 1995, which is equivalent to about 40 per Cent of the total quantity of municipal waste disposed in
landfills each year. (Ng, 1997, p.489) Hong Kong's industrial base has been moving in recent years
across the border to its hinterland in China due to rising costs in Hong Kong's Sewage Charge and
TEC (Trade Effluent Surcharge), which is implemented as part of a few scattered the environmental
actions (Ng, 1997, p.488). Hong Kong ranks in the world table in the top ten countries and territories
for tropical hardwood consumption. The wood used in Hong Kong Comes from neighbouring countries
of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. The increasing pollution in South China
and loss of forest Cover in Southeast Asia inevitably affects Hong Kong in return.
Sustaining one's own environment by destroying the environment of others is not the sustainable
development. However, environmental protection strategies in Hong Kong seem, to a large extent, to
rely on such an approach. What is needed is a determination of the minimum scale of consumption
and altered production patterns into a balance-seeking process, rather than causing of a larger or
more environmental pressure locally or globally. Resource consumption must be carried out within
limits imposed by the natural environment. This calls for policies which are designed to manage - that
is, reduce or redirect - certain demands, rather than to meet them or expand them.
3. SUSTAINABLE CITIES MUST BE COMPACT
Urban form (the pattern and density of development within and between settlements) influences travel
patterns, the ability to maintain bio-diversity, and the quality of life. The intensification of land use
facilitates the conservation of not only the land base, but also energy and resource consumption
through improved efficiencies in housing, transportation and other infrastructure. A highly dense urban
form implies that a minimal amount of undeveloped land is to be converted to urban area. This is
favorable for the maintenance of local biodiversity and biological resources. A high population density
also implies lower transport requirements and facilitates the use of public and non-motorized modes
(Table 2). Thus high density reduces travelling distances and promotes the use of energy-efficient
means of transport, both leading to lower energy use (Norman, 1996) Further more, high density
urban habitat also implies lower energy use for the building maintenance, notably because
apartments are more compact and less dispersed than single-family homes. High density dwellings
are also usually smaller than dwellings in low density residential areas; and this, together with the
reduced needs for infrastructure in dense towns, also implies that the requirement for construction
materials is usually lower. A compact city form is essential in achieving social and economic
advantages.
f
Table 2 Comparison of car usage in major Asian cities
1 Cars per 1000 population GDP per capita (US$)
(1992)
Hong Kong
41
17300
Singapore
101
16300
10000
Taiwan
147
29500
Japan
281
South Korea
6800
75
(Transport Branch, 1994)
Hong Kong's unique geographical features are dominated by mountains and islands surrounded by
seawater. With a population in approaching 6 million and a total developable landmass of not much
more than 500 sq. km, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world, with
nearly 26,000 people per Square kilometer living in the central urban areas. In Hong Kong, urban
areas occupy only 16-18% of total territory. Hong Kong has preserved 40 % of land as natural
reservation areas (Fig. 1). High-density life style can save energy, land, natural resources, and
contribute to natural reservation. Despite Hong Kong position among the most densely populated
regions on Earth, Hong Kong today still boasts more native species of plants, mammals, reptiles and
amphibians than the whole of Britain. (Conservancy Association, 1992, p.3) Through the history, Hong
Kong has developed a unique pattern characterised with mixture of functions in high density. Retails,
offices, restaurants and residential space are overlapped vertically in one block. Dynamism in cities
remains an undiscovered treasure, evidenced By the largely unappreciated success of Hong Kong
and other Asian cities. High density living is a Hong Kong tradition with tremendous ecological
advantages. It should be highlighted in all planning, design, and policy strategies as the key element
to be maintained to achieve a sustainable future.