Involving the
in Building
The Case of Western District
Mee Kam NG
The University of
Hong Kong
Background of the District
District Council: little knowledge about
sustainable development
 Partnership is not a popular concept
 Residents have little knowledge about
urban planning
 Government’s district planning has been
top-down
 Staff and students: have little knowledge
about the district
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Methodology
Community Planning Workshops
Workshop One
 Understanding
Western District
 Raising Community
Awareness &
Encouraging
Inputs
 Interviewing
Community
Members
Key Community Concerns
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Reclamation: reducing the scale of reclamation to
improve the environment
linking the old with the new
MTR extension
Urban renewal: in-situ rehousing
Housing mix: public & private housing
Steep streets: build escalators to improve access
Routes 7 & 10: submerged Route 7 and abandon road
reserve for route 10
Extend the tram to the new reclamation
Open space
Waterfront promenade
Heritage
Hygiene: old areas
Methodology
Community Planning Workshops
Workshop Two
 Generating
planning ideas
 Sustainability
Impact
Assessment
 Feedback on
Planning Ideas
Methodology
Community Planning Workshops
Workshop Three: Preparing a concept plan
Methodology
Community Planning Workshops

Workshop Three
Evaluating the sustainability of the plan
Residents
Social:
relocation
Economic:
employment
Environmental: QoL
Overall
Elderly
Business
Youth
Methodology
Community Planning Workshops
Workshop Three: Action Plan
5。Reclamation
East
4。Reclamation
West
2。Shek Tong Tsui &
University
3。Kennedy Town &
Mt. Davis
1。Sai Ying
Pun
Methodology
Phase II: Community Planning Workshops
Workshop Three: Bringing the Plan to the
Community
Students’ Concept Plan
Conclusion: Macro-level
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Difficulties of building sustainable communities
in Hong Kong:
 Absence of local authorities
 Lack of a territory-wide sustainable
development strategy
Hong Kong needs a sustainable development
strategy that integrate macro and micro
concerns to serve the needs of the public
District Council should be provided with more
professional planning resources to build up local
partnership programmes to map out a local
sustainable development blueprint
Conclusion: Micro-level
Sustainability of Western District:
 Rich social and cultural capital
 Needs more work on economic and
environmental capital
 District Council: more knowledgeable about
the concept of sustainable development
 Partnership is realized
 Residents empowered
 Students and staff members learned more
about the District
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Conclusion
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The exercise proved that community inputs (DCs,
social workers, NGOs, residents, businessmen,
university) is indispensable in formulating a local
development blueprint
Community involvement ignites a sense of
ownership and an urge for implementation
The Central and Western District has set up a
Working Group on Sustainable Development to
pursue the students’ recommended concept plan
Building sustainable communities is a learning
process: it is fun!
The learning process has to build upon trust,
mutual respect and dialogue… Social capital is the
lubricant…