How HK could copy Big Apple's green lung

How HK could copy Big Apple's green lung
Bold plan suggests linking island's existing parks
Olga Wong
Updated on Feb 10, 2009
In a bold plan for Hong Kong's central business district, the local architect who designed the new government headquarters has called for the city's parks to be linked together to form a large green network comparable to New York's Central Park.

Calling on the government to draw up a new metro plan to guide the city's design, veteran architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee, whose "The Door" design was selected for the new government headquarters at Tamar in Central, said: "People hope to have more parks. But instead of asking for more, why don't we look for a large one with quality?"

Mr Yim's aggressive plan would link up three urban parks - Victoria Park, Hong Kong Park and the Zoological and Botanical Gardens - with the future Central promenade and the great lawn at the new government headquarters to form a green network spanning more than 30 hectares in the city's core business area.

He proposed connecting the individual parks with wide, landscaped decks and boulevards covered with trees, forming an extensive green lung for the bustling central business district and improving air quality.

In his preliminary plan, a green deck could be built from Victoria Park to the promenade in Causeway Bay, which the government already plans to connect to the new Central waterfront. Mr Yim's design for the new government headquarters would see its great lawn linked to the Central waterfront.

The other link would require more government effort. Apart from connecting the government headquarters with Hong Kong Park by filling the missing links from the great lawn to Admiralty Centre and government hill, the chief executive would have to give up a small part of Government House for a link from government hill to the botanical gardens.

"People can simply walk directly from government hill to the botanical gardens if our chief executive would lend us a small part of his Government House," Mr Yim said. "The linkage would only occupy his staff quarters."

Asked if the plan could be too aggressive and difficult to implement, Mr Yim said it did not involve private land but would need further surveying to turn it into reality.

"All we need is determination," he said, adding that he would advocate the idea to the government and cite Tamar as an example of how it could be done.

"We don't have a large park like Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London. But we can sew the existing green patches together, turning it into a unique feature of our city," he said.

Hong Kong has 1,450 urban parks and resting areas but its largest park - Victoria Park - covers only 19 hectares, compared with Central Park's 341 hectares and Hyde Park's 142 hectares.

Mr Yim said the local parks were not well designed and the city's green ratio was below average.

"Green space design is just one of the many aspects of a city's urban design, we need an updated metro plan to guide our development approach," he said.

"Do we want higher buildings? Do we want more greenery in urban areas or just country parks in rural areas? To what extent should we preserve heritage buildings?"

He said the existing metro plan was formulated in the 1990s and had not kept up with changing social aspirations - which now preferred a more balanced development approach.

Chair professor of geography at the University of Hong Kong Jim Chi-yung said the idea of creating linear parks has been widely adopted overseas, including in Taiwan, Japan and Singapore.

"In Sapporo, urban parks are connected skilfully with natural greenways planted with abundant trees," he said. "It is like entering a small forest."

A Planning Department spokeswoman said it had reviewed the metro plan in 2003 and had proposed providing attractive and convenient pedestrian links between the waterfront and major parks. That thinking would be incorporated into district planning work.

Tomorrow

A look at widespread concern that Hong Kong's rigid building rules are discouraging the design of innovative, green buildings.