Introduction on an evaluation of the effectiveness of urban renewal under Urban Renewal Authority ( Chapter 1)

    Aligned with all the alterations being put in the age of administration, urban approaches are transitioning from those seeking an indiscriminate and unpredictable remaking and redevelopment to those who are centered on the enhancement of communities and recuperation and from those which are generally driven by the specialists and organizations to the ones who are based on inhabitants interest and associations.

        Local inhabitants are the foremost necessary and are a group of people who can effectively take part in policy-making forms, as well as lead and propose projects of urban renewal, to make the present environment and to make communities livable. Furthermore, inhabitants can be engaged in the implementation of urban renewal projects for securing the democracy and rationality among those inhabitants. This will not just increase the sense of community in the inhabitants, but along with that it will contribute revitalizing neighborhood independence (Woong-Kyoo, 2002).

        As per the report provided by the Buildings Department in the year 2010, more than 400 buildings in Hong Kong are of ages 50 or more. This number is, and in these old buildings, almost 1000 of them were said to show various defects which are required to be repaired or investigated. Furthermore, if the maintenance of these constructions I not done then the inhabitants of these constructions are more likely to suffer the risk provided by the failure of the structure of the building. Hence, urban renewal of the old assemblies is one of the very important issues in the upcoming era. Among these urban renewal projects most of the redevelopment was done by the private developers, and because of scarce resources, URA (Urban Renewal Authority) only implies only one-fifth of the projects. However, when the HKSAR government launched the property cooling measure, the interest of private developers for starting new redevelopment projects is lost (Ejinsight.com, 2017).

        Currently, URA, Hong Kong (Urban Renewal Authority) looks after all the projects of urban renewal as a single and independent institution of urban renewal. In addition to that, they are also liable for the associated promotional exercises and education for the redevelopment projects. Their projects are categorized into four categories among the holistic 4R strategies (Hong, 2018).

This research aims to recognize the effectiveness of the urban renewal projects under the Urban Renewal Authority.  This study aims to do this by closely analyzing the case of Hong Kong's redevelopment project in Kwun Tong Town center researcher is going to measure the effectiveness of the upcoming and present renewal projects.

Problem Statement on an evaluation of the effectiveness of urban renewal under Urban Renewal Authority

        In the past decades, urban decay and the old building problems have become a major concern for the Hong Kong citizens. As stated before there is a high risk of structural failure to the old buildings if the protection is not provided on time. With this in mind, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) was established in 2001 to undertake, encourage, promote and facilitate the urban renewal of Hong Kong. With the help of the Urban Renewal Authority, it is expected the urban decay can be alleviated so that the residents living in old buildings can have a better living quality.

        It has been noticed that there is a lot of work done by the government to tackle social and building problems. Other than establishing the Urban Renewal Authority, the Land Development Corporation is also another important work which the government tried to do. The urban renewal projects have existed for a long time, and here we are focusing on how the Urban Renewal Authority exerted their impact on helping the deteriorated building problems of Hong Kong (Lee 1981).

        ‘People first, district-based, public participatory’ is the approach of all the Urban Renewal Authority workers. In sustainable development in Hong Kong, the Urban Renewal Authority has been improving the problem of urban decay to relieve the poor living conditions of the inhabitants of the country. On the other side, however, there are some voices in society doubting that whether the renewal projects provided by the Urban Renewal Authority are active or not. Besides causing loss of the local features of the area, the complete change from the renewal will also take away the sense of belonging from the particular district. Under these circumstances, there must be some conflicts brought by the urban renewal, and that could raise the concern of the effectiveness of the redevelopment.

        Provided that there are a lot of activities being conducted by the Urban Renewal Authorities for the urban renewal projects, hence, it is fair and more manageable for the researcher to examine the projects completed in the past for evaluating the effectiveness of the upcoming urban renewal projects. Among these projects completed by Urban Renewal Authorities, the Kwun Tong Town center project is the chosen case study for the assessment of such projects because of the wide area covered by this project. The population density of this district has become notifying and without any adequate protection or renovation for the buildings constructed in the past safety of the inhabitants of Kwun Tong is jeopardized. Hence, this project can be a representation for the researcher for the analyzing the effectiveness of urban renewal projects.

This study aims, and along with that it seeks to answer the following questions:

What did the Urban Renewal Authority do before and during the renewal process?

What will be the impacts after the renewal project in Kwun Tong district?

Does the Urban Renewal Authority focus on the citizens living in the area of the renewal project?

Does the Urban Renewal Authority try to avoid the negative impact?

What is the significant improvement the Urban Renewal Authority shall take in the similar urban renewal project?

Research Aim & Objectives on An evaluation of the effectiveness of urban renewal under Urban Renewal Authority

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the urban renewal projects given by the Urban Renewal Authority. For achieving this aim, here are some objectives which the researcher seeks to make:

Finding out the related urban renewal history in Hong Kong

Having a clear understanding of the background and goals of the Urban Renewal Authority.

Reviewing the literature that is related to the effectiveness of redevelopment and the details of the urban renewal.

Analyzing the impacts exerted by the redevelopment project

Explaining the significant difficulties that Urban Renewal Authority faces when undertaking the urban renewal projects

Recommending some possible ways to improve the effectiveness of the current plan as well as the plans in the future

References on an evaluation of the effectiveness of urban renewal under Urban Renewal Authority

Ejinsight.com. 2017. URA under fire for big change to Kwun Tong redevelopment project. September 25. http://www.ejinsight.com/20170925-ura-under-fire-for-big-change-to-kwun-tong-redevelopment-project/.

Kwun Tong Vision. 2006. Redevelopment of Kwun Tong: Summary Report. http://www.ats.edu.hk/kklau/0708CE/07CEPark/KwunTong/final_report_latest.pdf.

Lee, Rance P. L. 1981. Social Life and Development in Hong Kong. Chinese University Press.

Li, C. Y. 2007. Kwun Tong Town Centre Redevelopment Project and the Role of Urban Design. The HKU Scholar Hub.

—. 2018. Kwun Tong residential site attracts 25 bids despite concerns over infrastructure capacity. January 19. https://www.scmp.com/property/hong-kong-china/article/2129737/kwun-tong-residential-site-attracts-25-bids-despite.