Involving the in Building The Case of Western District

1. Public Sustainable Communities Involving the in Building The Case of Western District Mee Kam NG The University of Hong Kong

2. 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

3. Workshop One Understanding Western District Raising Community Awareness & Encouraging Inputs Interviewing Community Members MethodologyCommunity Planning Workshops

4. Key Community Concerns • 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

5. Workshop Two Generating planning ideas Sustainability Impact Assessment Feedback on Planning Ideas MethodologyCommunity Planning Workshops

6. Workshop Three: Preparing a concept plan MethodologyCommunity Planning Workshops

7. Workshop Three Evaluating the sustainability of the plan MethodologyCommunity Planning Workshops

8. Workshop Three: Action Plan 1。Sai Ying Pun 5。Reclamation East 4。Reclamation West 2。Shek Tong Tsui & University 3。Kennedy Town & Mt. Davis MethodologyCommunity Planning Workshops

9. Workshop Three: Bringing the Plan to the Community MethodologyPhase II: Community Planning Workshops

10. Students’ Concept Plan

11. Conclusion: Macro-level • 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

12. 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

13. Conclusion • 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…