What impact will the redevelopment of Kwun Tong District in Hong Kong have on residents?

Earlier, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced three plans to rebuild Kwun Tong downtown, involving 30 billion yuan. It is imperative to turn Kwun Tong into a "new landmark of East Kowloon". Regardless of whether the construction of several reinforced buildings with more historical significance than landmark cities can become new landmarks, it seems that many Kwun Tong people who should have been included in the consultation have been neglected in the redevelopment plan of Kwun Tong town center that emphasizes "people-oriented".

The city center is a transportation hub.

In addition to its own 4,500 residents, Kwun Tong downtown has a huge floating population. Every morning, a large number of workers take subways, buses and minibuses to Kwun Tong in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing in the west, Sheung Shui, Tai Po, Ma On Shan and Sha Tin in the north and Hong Kong Island in the south. Although most of the work places are concentrated in the south of the city center, that is, the industrial and commercial buildings along Kaiyuan Road and Hongtu Road. However, the traffic always leads them to the city center first. Yuminfang and restaurants outside Yan 'an are good choices for lunch or after work.

Looking back at the history of Kwun Tong downtown, it really played a downtown role in the residential areas around Kwun Tong. In Lehua and Xiumaoping on Kwun Tong Hill, many residents' routes to work and school will pass through the center of Kwun Tong, such as changing to minibus to Kung Lok Road, or to subway, or to almost all bus routes covering the whole territory. While the Kwun Tong Line is still the subway terminal, residents in Lantian in the east also need to rely on the traffic network in Kwun Tong downtown. The same happened before the MTR extended to Yau Tong and Tseung Kwan O. Residents living in Tseung Kwan O should remember that during the rush hour, two bus routes 98A and 296A between Kwun Tong and Tseung Kwan O used two buses to pick up passengers at the terminus at the same time, which could not reduce the long queues. Of course, the role of Kwun Tong city center as a transit station has been reduced, but these historical factors have kept the habit of taking Kwun Tong as the center for the starting point of bus lines or the design of lines for residents to enter and leave. This habit has formed a network for residents to shuttle back and forth between the bus stops at Kwun Tong Road and Yue Man Square, the minibus stops at Yan Oi Wai and Yan Fu Li, and the MTR station at Kwun Tong Road. On the way, you can visit the snack bar in Yuminfang, cross the noodle shop lane next to the park, walk into the Yindu Theater and take a nap in the park. Downtown is also a part of this group's life.

The periphery of the city center

In addition to Yuminfang, Tongren Lane, Yan 'an and Yanfu Street included in the reconstruction plan, the city center in a broad sense can also include Hong Ning Road, Yi 'an Street, Wuhua Street, Ruihe Street and Xiehe Street. The redevelopment of Kwun Tong town centre will inevitably affect these unplanned communities. Take Wuhua Street as an example. This street, which is famous for gold shops and Ye Jihuan robberies, may change from one-way traffic to two-way traffic in the future. The Tang-style buildings in Wuhua Street, Ruihe Street and Street need to be adjacent to the fortress-style buildings that "protect the downtown square from waste gas pollution" (see Wang Ouyang (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., the core of East Kowloon and a new model of the city).

While the relationship with the big community formed in the reconstruction area has been cut off, these surrounding communities are also facing changes. For example, after the completion of Langham Place, many small shopping malls and other newly moved restaurants and bars emerged around the old Tang building in Langham Place. What impact the Langham Place has on the surrounding communities is the hottest research topic for various groups concerned about urban renewal. In Ming Pao on August 9 this year, Mr. Su, an old street shop who has lived outside Yan 'an for more than 40 years, pointed out that he described the downtown area as "gambling, gambling and drug trafficking are all available here", while the buildings were "exposed with steel bars". Once, the canopy collapsed and killed people, and rats and cockroaches were everywhere on the ground. There is a strange smell in the building, the corridor is dark, and there is only a red light of "one phoenix on the first floor". Regardless of whether Mr. Su has reflected the practical problems in downtown, have the Urban Renewal Authority or those who support urban renewal considered that the health and safety problems of these gambling and drugs will be transferred to the streets opposite the downtown? These "problems" have never been solved since the beginning of reconstruction?

"People-oriented", who?

From the perspective of the Urban Renewal Authority or the developer, the most important "person" in the redevelopment plan is definitely the person who owns the property. After successfully acquiring most of the property rights, you can sacrifice the creed of private property rights and reject other suggestions and queries about the plan in the name of "infringing on private property". For parliamentarians and local residents, the most important thing in reconstruction is those who have the right to vote. These people include the owner and all tenants. All efforts to participate in reconstruction and negotiate compensation can be rewarded in the election. However, for those "people" whose daily lives are closely related to the above-mentioned urban centers, how many opportunities can they get to participate in consultation besides the design models of the three reconstruction projects? In the three models, the buildings around Wuhua Street, Hong Ning Road and Ruihe Street are represented by gray cubes without personality, which may be a clearer message than the green "new" downtown area after transformation. The Kwun Tong redevelopment project has never been designed to deal with the significance of the city center to the floating population. Perhaps the floating population is just a bunch of potential consumption power in the eyes of URA. URA's knowledge of the community is limited to fangyuan, the place below your residence. People are people waiting to be eliminated within the scope of development.

See:/question/question/19354446.html.