THE IDEAL CITY-----HONG KONG

Facing the Challenge of Rapid Population Growth in Urban Area-----the Advantages of Compact City Form

‘Contemporary compact city approaches as to increase built area and residential population densities; to intensify urban economic, social and cultural activities and to manipulate urban size, form and structure and settlement systems in pursuit of the environmental, social and global sustainability benefits derived from the concentration of urban function’-----Burgess

Hong Kong, a typical compact city, very crowded, but has relative short distance between living areas and working areas and easy access to commercial centers and is able to high efficiently use public transport network.the two biggest strengths on the formation of Hong Kong’s urban structure  are the serious land scarcity and rapid population growth.

1.Vertical development in HK

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2.Application of Multiple Land use Approach

The multiple and intensive mixed land use approach has long applied in Hong Kong and yielded satisfactory and unexpected achievements. For example, the common podiums in the context of compact city has transformed into a location of various events and activities, where we can surprisingly find public gardens, restaurants, markets, sport gyms and even schools. In some way, it formed a special urban culture with strong Hong Kong characteristic. In addition, the network of pedestrian walkway also is a commendable output of mixed land use guideline. The all-weather 24-hour opened pedestrians as a connector built between different levels of buildings in Hong Kong successfully usually well linked the existing city structure and derived the prosperity of the whole commercial area.

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3.High Efficiency of Public Transport System

Hong Kong’s high efficiency of public transport system is regarded as one of the most essential conveniences caused by compact urban form. Today, Hong Kong’s public transit system has developed into a large-scale and synthetical network composed by various transport infrastructures and facilities, such as Mass Transit Railway, automated predestine escalator, public light bus and ferries. It would be the most cost-effective one in the world, as it normally provides the service to more than 11 million people every day, that means over 90% of daily journeys depend on it.The high utilization of public transport system to a large extent has reduced the cost of traffic congestion and the number of private cars.