新市鎮檔案

I came across the following commentary when reading a piece of news about 夏寶龍先生 visiting Hong Kong: 如果夏主任能夠擠擠地鐵，是否就會知道香港的中心極化和居職分離有多嚴重？

But are these aims successful? In the following, we would find out by applying spatial data analysis. In particular, we will evaluate new towns in 3 aspects: environmental, social, and governance (ESG). Also, the application of different city structures in Hong Kong’s planning, inspired by Murphy’s book The Central Business District: A Study in Urban Geography (2017), will be explored. Last, policy recommendations for future developments of new towns will be given.

Before delving into the features of new towns in ESG, let's get to understand new towns from its basis: their spatial distribution across Hong Kong.

This shows new towns are partially successful in achieving aim (1) above through suburbanization: decentralizing population from urban areas to cope with the increase in population, and improving the living environment with higher social well-being. As shown in the figure below, 85% of the population lives in urban areas in 1961.

Gradually, through 3 stages of new town development, parts of the population are shifted to New Territories. New towns are developed in a radiating pattern in terms of time (as seen in the timeline below): regions closer to the urban centers are first developed. Then, further areas are developed in proximity to previous ones.

By alleviating urban overcrowding, social well-being is improved. However, how do new towns fare in ESG itself? We will find out in the following.

An important aspect of governance is the provision of adequate public services and facilities to respond to residents’ various needs. This is essential for self-sufficiency. 

Therefore, the provision of public facilities is deemed satisfactory in new towns, but more should be provided to meet the increasing demand of developing new towns like Tung Chung and Fanling/Sheung Shui.

But apart from provision, convenient access to public facilities is also needed for good governance. Here, we would analyze the spatial distribution of government hospitals (healthcare).

Therefore, the accessibility of public facilities is in need of improvement in new towns. High information transparency e.g. revealing A&E Waiting Time on Hospital Authority’s website could help patients, but the root problem remains unsolved.

After analyzing governance in new towns, let's turn to the 2nd aspect of ESG: social well-being.

New towns aim to create self-contained communities with sufficient local jobs (He et al., 2020). This is important for the social well-being of citizens, as it reduces commuting distances and saves transport costs. People would suffer from lower living standards if daily necessities and work opportunities are not in close reach.

From the above analysis of new town governance, it is already shown that some aspects of public facilities might be inconvenient, contributing to lower social well-being. In this section, this is further demonstrated by the inadequate provision of jobs in new towns, resulting in widespread cross-district commuting to urban areas (Hui & Lam, 2005).

Therefore, inadequate transport connectivity in new towns proves to result in lower social well-being, increasing the already long commuting time.

Development versus environmental protection has always been one of the most heated topics in Hong Kong policy debate. While developing new towns, many people stress the importance of preserving the environment in rural areas. Meanwhile, the environment inside new towns should be well-protected with low pollution levels. However, are these really achieved?

A few factors might contribute to pollution in new towns. One factor, as mentioned above, is the heavy road traffic within and between new towns. MTR's inconvenience not only reduces social well-being, but also causes roadside air pollution by vehicles burning non-renewable fossil fuels.

Let’s have a closer look at one new town - Tuen Mun. According to this news article, locations like Light Rail stations and bus stops are major blackspots of air pollution in Tuen Mun.

Therefore, new towns have pros and cons in their environment. On one hand, its development could still preserve country parks and provide abundant green space. But on the other hand, pollution like air pollution is still a major issue in new towns.

Overall, it seems like the new town project is a mixed success. Indeed, it is undeniable that new towns have significantly relieved population pressure in old urban areas. Efforts in providing community facilities and enhancing the environment also received varying degrees of success. 

However, new towns face shortcomings in all 3 aspects of ESG e.g. unsatisfactory public services accessibility, inadequate connectivity, and air pollution. New towns could hardly be called self-contained. The government itself acknowledges the shortcomings of new towns in its  Northern Metropolis Development Strategy Report (2021) . It says, ‘There are also inadequacies in attaining home-job balance and self-sufficiency (of new towns).’

From this study, it can be seen that environment, society, and governance (ESG) are all interrelated. Enhancing one could improve all, but inadequacies in one might worsen all too. For instance, transport planning problems stem from governance, but lead to environmental and social problems like long commuting hours and air pollution. They can then be tackled by better governance e.g. information transparency on estimated transport time and traffic congestion. Therefore, the importance of ESG being considered as a whole for new town development needs to be recognized.

To improve ESG in new towns, the following recommendations are given.

This study pointed out traffic problems of new towns, but had no intention to assign blame to any stakeholder. Recognized, transport planning needs to take into account many factors like physical landscape, profit-making ability, and local support. It is extremely hard to achieve a perfect outcome with no flaws. 

There is no easy solution to the traffic deadlock in new towns. However, in the recent decade, a lot of new transport means have emerged, offering Hong Kong other intra-city commuting options other than traditional railway systems and roadside vehicles. These transport means could be considered for more convenient commuting and less pollution, reaping social and environmental benefits.

Let's examine 2 examples of new transport means. (remember to swipe right!)

Not all kinds of data are available online on CSDI Portal. Thus, the scope of the study is mostly confined to the data available. Some other unofficial data sources may be outdated e.g. MTR map showing the West Rail Line instead of the Tuen Ma Line

The author has no prior experience in using ArcGIS and has to self-learn how to use the system from scratch through ArcGIS tutorials and online videos without any instructor’s guidance. Many difficulties are encountered: for example, the processing of 3D data proves to be difficult, while the use of different types of maps can be initially confusing. 

However, the study is extremely rewarding, providing the author with a fruitful experience in using geospatial technology. By accessing data on the CSDI portal and gaining insights into spatial analysis, the versatile use of spatial data and GIS in inspiring city development and enhancing ESG is discovered.  

It is recognized that policy decisions are not easy, having to consider many perspectives and take care of multiple stakeholders’ views. It’s much easier to point out a policy’s flaw than to suggest a better policy. In particular, the recommendations suggested in this study are only initial ideas, without rigorous research or empirical evidence to support their feasibility and effectiveness. However, the author believes these ideas could point Hong Kong in a better direction to enhance ESG.

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