Privately owned public space in Hong Kong

Abstract

There is a rising concern on the management of public open space in private development (POSPD) upon the conflicting interests between public users and private owners. For the public users, POSPD is almost equal to a public playground or a park which does not require entrance fee and general requirements. For the private commercial development, POSPD is a by-product of decoration which can be used to exchange for higher plot ratio and a catalyst attracting more consumers for making profits and the management of POSPD is not a difficult thing. For the private residential development, POSPD can be a selling point or gimmick to attract potential buyers in such a way pushing up the selling price but the management agencies would face a big problem in observing the guidelines of the provision of POSPD required under lease for the use by the public. In practice, the POSPD was never opened for public use after the development was completed and the best example is Metro Harbour View.

In response with the issues of commodification of POPS, the Development Bureau (DEVB) undertook an in-depth policy review of the subject matter in 2008 and commissioned a consultancy study in 2009 for drawing up a set of clear and practicable design and management guidelines for POPS for reference by property owners, management agencies and the general public. The “Design and Management Guidelines for Public Open Space in Private Developments” (“the POSPD Guidelines”) were promulgated in January 2011. The POSPD is equivalent to POPS in this dissertation and one of which is to avoid provision of POPS on private land in private residential developments so that individual owners would not be made liable to manage and maintain those public facilities.

In this dissertation, the study aims to illustrate the understanding of various key concepts and their interrelationships together forming the conceptual framework for this dissertation. This would examine the roles of POPS in Hong Kong and reevaluate the effectiveness of the design and management guideline. It also examines the different information released by the websites of the Lands Department (LandsD) and the Buildings Department (BD) in connection with the POSPD. In response to the public criticism and concern, the LandsD and the BD each announced its own list of the existing POSPD named "Provision of Public Facilities in Private Developments" for public investigation and supervision in 2008. This dissertation will also suggest some recommendations to improve the guidelines if there are some missing elements and to illustrate the appropriate design.