Landuse-Transportation Inter-relationship in Hong Kong's Territorial Development

Landuse-Transportation Inter-relationship in Hong Kong's Territorial Development

Peter K.S. Pun

本文談論城市規劃與交通系統的關係，特別著重香港近五十年的市區發展及交通系統的建設，亦同時提及香港與珠江三角洲和鄰近地區的連繫，展望將來香港要成為一個國際大都會，我們需要注意地政、交通、自然環境生態、社會福利及經濟利益的緊密連結。

Background

For a long time town planning and transportation planning were treated as two separate independent development issues. Given the obvious relationship between the two, this is a surprising phenomenon. One common complaint of the town planner in the past was that landuse planning was forced to be done as an afterthought after the transportation networks had been fixed. The town planner was asked simply to fill in the spatial gaps between the roads. The consequence was unattractive layouts and environment. Some old urban districts in Hong Kong are typical examples.

This approach has since been totally changed. Both the town planner and the transportation planner now recognise the very close inter-relationship between landuse and transportation. One must indeed wonder why attention was only paid to this relationship so late in the development of these two disciplines and why such simple methodologies as the gravity model were derived only relatively recently.

Transportation needs like roads and parking facilities are obviously the consequences of landuse distribution. It is only when a piece of land is used in some way that traffic to and from that site is generated. The volume and type of the generated traffic depend on the type of landuse and the intensity of use. Conversely, in deciding on the type and intensity of landuse for any site in a planning area the landuse planner has to consider, among many factors, whether there is sufficient capacity in the existing and planned transportation networks to meet the need of the proposed use. The town planner must work with his transportation colleagues to make sure than landuses and transportation facilities match. It is only when he and his transportation colleagues have derived mutually acceptable solutions that the town planner can make his landuse planning recommendations as practicable propositions.

Strategic Planning

In Hong Kong, such inter-relationship has long been fully recognised. The long-term development strategies are a good illustration. As early as the Abercrombie Plan published in 1948, transportation proposals were made together with landuse development ideas. The 1971 Colony Outline Plan had lengthy discussions on transportation issues and their implications on the long-term landuse planning intentions. This relationship was given very strong emphasis since the 1984 Territorial Development Strategy which was based very much on the Land Use-Transportation Optimization Model (LUTO). This is a computerized mathematical model relating landuse (using the term in its broad sense) and transportation; it has since been used as a tool to derive the most optimized long-term development strategies for the Territory. In development strategies after 1984, the importance of environmental quality was added to the formula.
The successful functioning of a city relies on the effective performance of its infrastructure and its people. As one of the many types of infrastructure, the transportation networks and facilities minimize the 𡜻riction?between activity points. In Hong Kong, the highly-efficient transportation system (comprising a number of inter-linked modes) and the high concentration of activity and residence points (due to its high-density development) together enable speedy travel between these points and hence the completion of many activities within a very short time-span. The consequence is a highly efficient city.

External Links

Although Hong Kong is a compact city, transportation links between landuses are very essential. Much attention is paid to this inter-relationship at both the macro and micro levels of planning and development, as well as both externally, with respect to our operational relationship with our neighbours in South China, and internally, regarding mutual impacts between landuse and transportation problems of specific sites or districts within its territorial boundaries. The frequent traffic congestion at the various cross-border points is a good example of the effect of the inadequate provision made in the past to cater for the transportation impacts of development decisions made on the two sides of the border. These impacts are now well recognised and in such plans as the Territorial Development Strategies proposals have been made on new land and sea transportation links to the neighbouring development areas in the Pearl River Delta. The recently completed Route 3 is a good example; more recent proposals include Route Y suggested in a recent development strategy and the possibility of extending West Rail to the border. One transportation corridor being examined by Hong Kong and Shenzhen is the link across Deep Bay to connect Shekou to Hong Kong. These connections are needed because of the landuses on the two sides of the border and their functional relationships.

An obvious solution to the congestion problem at the existing cross-border points is to expand their facilities and capacities. Studies have shown that this is physically possible on the Hong Kong side as the land around these points is largely undeveloped as it falls within the closed border areas. The situation on the Shenzhen side is very different as most of the land adjacent to the cross-border points has been or will soon be developed; in this case, landuse planning has rendered it difficult to find solutions to transportation problems.

Internal Links

There are also many internal landuse-transportation cases to demonstrate the effect of the inter-relationship. At the macro level, a good case is the transportation effect of the new town programme. Accompanying the construction of the new towns, a circular route of highway standard was built. Contrary to what is usually alleged, the new towns were not planned to be totally self-contained. Hence, the need of this route was obvious and was caused by the move of large number of people to live in the new towns so that transportation connections must be provided between them and between them and the urban areas. This road network was complemented by the upgrading of the Hong Kong section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (now called the East Rail) and where appropriate more ferry links.

More lately, the previously unforeseeable changes in the economic structure have given rise to very different transportation demand. Many of the originally envisaged employment opportunities in manufacturing industries to be provided on the industrial land in the new towns did not materialize. The move of emphasis to the financial and service sectors has meant that most of the jobs are now found in the urban areas around Victoria Harbour. These changes have called for modifications to the landuse patterns in both the new owns and the urban areas. The resulting traffic patterns are also very different and this has been one of the factors leading to the decision to construct the West Rail.

The 1997 Territorial Development Strategy has predicted that the Hong Kong population will grow to the extent that the existing and planned urban development areas will not be sufficient. New growth areas have to be identified. In identifying these areas, the town planner has to work hand in hand with the transportation planner to formulate new transportation links to serve these areas to ensure that they will function properly. Population redistribution resulting from landuse proposals is thus the cause of transportation problems.

The impacts of moving the airport to Chek Lap Kok illustrate clearly the effect of changes in the transportation system on landuse planning. It does not only affect the development of North Lantau, which was a quiet unspoilt natural area of Hong Kong but which, as a consequence of the airport, is now being developed into a new town. Some spring-off benefits will soon be seen including the possibility of major recreational schemes. The relocation of this major transportation facility away from Kowloon has also very significant implications on landuse development pattern and intensity throughout most parts of the Kowloon Peninsula. These are due partly to the lifting of the previous height restrictions on development and hence the development intensities within the vicinities of the old airport; they are also partly the consequence of the removal of a source of environmental pollution, which will affect the types of landuses that can be accommodated, and the relocation of establishments linked to air transportation. These in turn set up chain effects throughout the landuse spectrum. The relocation of new port facilities from the main portion of Victoria Harbour to the west has very similar effects on the landuses in the coastal areas in Kowloon and the northern part of Hong Kong Island. The reduction of public cargo working areas in these areas, for instance, has given the landuse planner the chance of redesigning and upgrading the quality of this important waterfront in the urban areas. Yet another interesting example is the construction of the underground mass transit railway. This vital transportation network was built to solve the traffic problem in the urban areas caused by the tremendous urban growth in the last few decades. Nevertheless, the presence of this very efficient transportation facility has made the areas it passes through very attractive areas for intensification of development. This was one of the reasons for the large number of urban renewal schemes along or near to the mass transit railway. Another case is the search of a suitable site for the building of a science park. A development of this kind requires, among other things, proximity to research institutions and convenient major transportation links. The site at Tai Po Kau to the east of the Chinese University was chosen because of its accessibility to several universities via the East Rail, the highways and the underground railway.

On the other side of the coin, the negative effect of the deficiency in transportation facilities can also be seen in many places. Notable examples include the moratorium imposed on development in the Pok Fu Lam area due to the inadequate road transportation capacity; and the introduction of plot ratio control in the Mid-Levels (as a means to minimize traffic congestion on the old roads originally built for much lighter traffic volumes) and in a number of districts in Kowloon (to reduce the adverse impacts of inadequacies in the transportation systems as well as other infrastructural, community and recreational facilities after the removal of the airport height restrictions). In other areas the town planner has to resort to proposing reclamation from the sea to provide land required for the construction of transportation facilities. He would of course take these opportunities to use the rest of the reclaimed land for other town planning purposes such as the provision of community and recreational facilities to improve the environment of the adjacent districts and the beautifying of the waterfront.

The inter-relationship also comes into play at the local and site levels of planning. There are many examples of this. For many development schemes, the town planner and his colleagues in the various fields may recommend rejection due to such transportation problems as insufficient road capacities in the locality or at certain road junctions, lack of parking spaces, ingress and egress points at the wrong locations, or absence of acceptable pedestrian links. Nowadays, the environmental impacts of transportation facilities are also very carefully considered and compromises have often to be found. In a land-scarce city like Hong Kong, on the other hand, development opportunities near or on transportation lines and nodes are never missed. These points of maximum transportation accessibility are usually utilized for landuses which can take the greatest advantages of these opportunities and higher development intensities are frequently permitted on these sites. Typical recent uses of this nature are office buildings and large-scale modern shopping malls.

A Glimpse into the Future

Without any doubt, this close inter-relationship between landuse and transportation will continue to be given full attention in future planning for development in Hong Kong. The more international and thriving we want Hong Kong to be, the more we have to modify our economic structure to accommodate the higher-level economic activities in order to progress further, the more we have to provide for new landuses and to adopt new planning approaches, the more we must have good physical and social environment, and the more efficiently our city has to operate. For these purposes, it is essential for us to have effective and environmentally-friendly internal and external transportation systems and facilities. Clearly, we have to go well beyond landuse and transportation. We need a model to incorporate landuse, transportation, natural and man-made environment, ecology, social conditions, economic well-being, and many other development aspects as all these have to work together smoothly before we can achieve sustainable development.

As far as the landuse-transportation inter-relationship is concerned, it appears that we have to re-examine some of the prevailing assumptions and approaches. Our attitude toward car-ownership, which is still low compared to other world cities, may need modification. Is it more appropriate to control the time, location and intensity of use of vehicles rather than the car-ownership rate? If it is, control should be exercised in relation to landuse distribution. Road-pricing may be the answer. Being a compact city with a high degree of intermixture of uses on the same sites, Hong Kong should plan to allow mass transit transport systems to play a role even more predominant than the present one, permitting the other modes to act mainly as feeder services.

We must look further ahead in the planning and implementation of transportation schemes. Transportation schemes are already part of landuse development strategies and all levels of town plans. The materialization of landuse proposals before transportation networks are developed will definitely have many undesirable effects, including our efficiency. Closer co-ordination between the two is therefore required.

Prof. Peter K.S. Pun is an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Geography at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a former Director of Planning of the Hong Kong Government.