Restoration of Forests Associated with New Town Development in Hong Kong

Abstract

The new town program in Hong Kong initiated in the 1970s has thus far shifted about two million people from the old city core to previous rural and countryside areas. Such massive urban growth, resulting in the creation of nine new towns, has brought extensive intrusion into farmlands and natural hill slopes, and imposed widespread influence on pre-urbanization natural and cultural vegetation. This study aimed at understanding the following aspects of the urban forests associated with Tai Po new town development: the nature and magnitude of the positive and negative vegetation changes, the geometric pattern and distribution of forest cover dynamics, the present forest condition and performance, and the factors and processes leading to vegetation modification and restoration. The concepts of precision land use zoning, green infilling and assisted relay floristic in urban forestry work were proposed. The implications of the findings to the preservation and creation of high quality nature in compact urban development were explored.