(Re)build the green belt : exploring a new relationship between housing, recreation, circulation and environment

Abstract

The construction of public housing and green-belt planning have been two separate, but interrelated strategies to regulate Hong Kong’s urban fringe. Today, however, as areas beyond the periphery have been urbanized, the social programs and planning classifications are failing to meet the social and environmental needs of the city core. In addition, the government proposed to increase public housing flat supply by constructing small estates as urban infill housing and rezoning green belt for housing development. Both methods are considered as short-term measures and lack considerations about social (including recreation and circulation) and environmental needs of neighbourhoods. At the same time, the quality of green belt in urban context are so diverse that some of them are only hard-surfaced slope without vegetation. These areas cannot fulfil the original intent of setting up green belt, including controlling urban sprawl and retaining significant landscape attribute and natural environment. They become a sacrificial land in urban development in terms of both economic and environmental aspect. Therefore, a more comprehensive approach is proposed as a counter-proposal for these two measures. This approach defines the new small public housing estates as complements, rather than burdens, of the old estates in terms of recreation, circulation and environment. By strategically develop the low-quality green belt, the landscape intervention can connect gaps in neighbourhoods and increase housing supply while reducing the effect of environmental degradation during the partial development of green belt, achieving a balance between housing, recreation, circulation and environment.