A study on factors affecting utilization of public open space in private developments in Hong Kong

Abstract

Public open space is an important concept in urban planning and design, which is beneficial to the stability of politics and economy, meanwhile contributes in environment sustainability and a livable environment. Privately owned public open space or Public Open space in private development (POSPD) is a common form of public open space (POS) generated from the general concept of public open space in the perspective of urban planning and urban design. In Hong Kong, POSPD has become a common type of public open space since the rare supply of land for use and optimization of land use. However, this form of POS in fact has generated a problem of interest controversy among the owner and the user of the POS. Consequently, many of the POSPD are found in poor performance in utilization under the great interest concern of the owners of the POS. This dissertation therefore, would review and evaluate the current performance and condition of the POSPD in Hong Kong. After the understanding of the condition of existing POSPD in Hong Kong, this dissertation would focus to find out how is the performance of utilization of POSPD to be affected and what are the key factors resulting in different performance of utilization of POSPD as this is still an unresolved argument for years. Yet the government has refined the guidelines regarding design, management and maintenance of POSPD, the POSPDs are still found not well utilized, but only physically built in order to fulfil the requirement as stated in the Deed of dedication or land lease, which still fail to make the provision and the exertion of POS function synchronized. In related to the outcomes, factors would be identified and corresponding recommendations would be attributed, especially in perspective of management and operation of the POSPD in order to achieve a balance between the interest all stakeholder in the society and bring improvement to the provision of POSPD, including the current and the future one.