New Towns in Hong Kong
The settlement structure of Hong Kong is increasingly characterized by so-called New Towns ("new cities"). These New Towns are planned cities in the New Territories that were created in response to the sharp increase in Hong Kong's population after World War II. Construction of the New Towns began in the 1970s. There are currently nine New Towns with around 3.47 million people (47 percent of Hong Kong's population) (as of 2016).
history
In 1941, shortly before the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong , the then British Crown Colony had a population of around 1.6 million. The majority of the population was concentrated on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, opposite the island on the mainland . The relatively mountainous hinterland, which also belonged to the crown colony, the so-called New Territories, were relatively sparsely populated and not urbanized.
After the end of World War II and the Chinese Civil War , Hong Kong's population increased steadily and rapidly. On the one hand, the increase was due to natural population growth and, on the other hand, to the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees. In 1966 there were 3,606,400 inhabitants in the entire crown colony. Of these, 1,030,970 (28.6%) lived in Hong Kong Island, 690,180 (19.1%) in Kowloon (within its old borders) and 1,342,650 in New Kowloon (today's Kowloon north of Boundary Street ) (37 , 2%). In contrast, the New Territories had 542,600 inhabitants (15.0%). The population densities were as follows: Hong Kong Island 13,637 people / km², Kowloon 70,312 people / km², New Kowloon 40,716 people / km² and New Territories 592 people / km². The cramped housing conditions in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon were no longer tolerable. In 1954, more than 300,000 people lived in irregular slum-like hut settlements in the northern vicinity of Kowloon. After the British administration of Hong Kong had for a long time pursued a policy of laissez faire towards the housing market and largely left this to the private sector, it took on the housing problem from the 1970s.
Expansion phases of the New Towns
After years of preparation, the Hong Kong administration began implementing the New Town Development Program in 1973 . A separate authority, the New Territories Development Department (NTDD), was founded for the specific implementation . The population of Hong Kong at that time was 4.2 million and the plans were to build three new planned cities Tsuen Wan New Town , Sha Tin New Town and Tuen Mun New Town for 1.8 million residents. Construction work on these three first phase New Towns began in the early 1970s. In a second expansion phase, which began in the late 1970s, the development of three more New Towns ( Tai Po New Town , Fanling New Town / Sheung Shui New Town and Yuen Long New Town ) began. A third expansion phase from the 1980s and 1990s included the three New Towns Tseung Kwan O , Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung .
The residential units in the New Towns were built partly under the direction of the government and partly privately. The government took care of the expansion of the infrastructure (roads, local public transport, etc.) and the construction of public facilities (schools, etc.).
Existing New Towns
The following table gives an overview of the development status of the New Towns (status: 2016).
| New Town (Engl./chin.) |
Development period |
population | Area (km²) |
Districts | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | planned | |||||
|
Tsuen Wan New Town 荃灣 新市鎮 ( Tsuen Wan , Kwai Chung , Tsing Yi ) |
1959 (beginnings) from 1973 (development as planned) |
823.386 | 866,000 | 32.86 |
Tsuen Wan , Kwai Tsing |
Tsuen Wan was originally an industrial area. Although most of the industries have migrated to mainland China, it has retained a certain industrial character. Nine container terminals are located here. |
|
Sha Tin New Town 沙田 新市鎮 ( Sha Tin , Tai Wai , Ma On Shan ) |
from 1973 | 665.606 | 771,000 | 35.91 | Sha Tin | Sha Tin New Town was mostly built on reclaimed land from Tolo Harbor . |
|
Tuen Mun New Town 屯門 新市鎮 |
from 1973 | 487,407 | 589,000 | 32.66 | Tuen Mun | Tue Mun New Town was built on reclaimed land from Castle Peak Bay and leveled land in the valley between Castle Peak and Tai Lam Hills. |
|
Tai Po New Town 大埔 新市鎮 |
from 1976 | 270,728 | 307,000 | 30.06 | Tai Po | Tai Po used to be a traditional market place. |
|
Yuen Long New Town 元朗 新市鎮 |
from 1977 | 148,000 | 196,000 | 11.70 | Yuen Long | Yuen Long used to be a traditional market place. |
|
Fanling / Sheung Shui New Town 粉嶺 ／ 上水 新市鎮 |
from 1978 | 259,942 | 290,000 | 6.67 | North | Fanling and Sheung Shui used to be traditional market places. |
|
Tseung Kwan O New Town 將軍澳 新市鎮 ( Hang Hau , Po Lam , LOHAS Park , Tiu Keng Leng , Tseung Kwan O ) |
from 1982 | 398.479 | 445,000 | 17.18 | Sai Kung | |
|
Tin Shui Wai New Town 天水圍 新市鎮 |
from 1987 | 286.232 | 306,000 | 4.30 | Yuen Long | Tin Shui Wai New Town was built on reclaimed land from Deep Bay. |
|
North Lantau New Town 北 大嶼山 新市鎮 (currently only Tung Chung ) |
from 1996 | 86,392 | 268,000 | 2.45 | Iceland | North Lantau New Town is one of the side projects of the airport construction on Chek Lap Kok . |
literature
- David R. Philipps (Ed.): New towns in East and South-East Asia: planning and development . Oxford University Press, Hong Kong 1987, ISBN 0-19-584087-9 , pp. 41-108 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Hong Kong: The Facts: New Towns , New Development Areas and Urban Developments. (pdf) Civil Engineering and Development Department, Hong Kong, May 2016, accessed on December 15, 2018 .
- ↑ Census & Statistics Department (Ed.): Hong Kong Statistics 1947-1967 . Hong Kong 1969, Table 2.5 Density of Population in Land Areas, p. 16 (English, pdf ).
- ^ YK Chan: The Development of New Towns in Hong Kong . In: The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Ed.): Occasional Paper No. 62 . December 1977 (English, pdf ).
- ↑ Peter Hills, Anthony GO Yeh: New Towns Revisited . In: Built Environment . tape 9 , no. 3/4 . Alexandrine Press, 1983, pp. 266-277 , JSTOR : 23286726 (English).
- ^ Ian Scott: Administering the New Towns of Hong Kong . In: Asian Survey . tape 22 , no. 7 . University of California Press, July 1982, pp. 659-675 , JSTOR : 2643702 (English).