Cities and sustainable development (eco-cities): introduction

For this introduction, use pages 80 and 81 (chapter 7) of the DNL textbook: 'Urban dynamics and environments'

Observing Hong Kong... 

Basic facts on Hong Kong:

• Hong Kong is a very dynamic metropolitan area which spreads over about 1000km² (a metropolitan area is made up of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories).
• It is situated on the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province in the south of China.
• It is part of what is becoming the world's first mega-city (Hong Kong + Shenhzen + Guangzhou).
• Hong Kong includes Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories (that includes more than 200 islands).
• Hong Kong's population is about 7 million and it is rising constantly (mostly because of immigrants from the rural areas of Guangdong province).
• It is one of the most densly populated areas in the world (6,500 people per km² in 2012).
• The HDI index for Hong Kong places it 15th out of 187 countries (in 2014), meaning that life expectancy, levels of health, education and income are ON AVERGAGE very high.
• According to the Knight Frank Global Cities Survey, Hong Kong was the 4th most important global city in the world in 2014.
• It is the second most expensive city in the world to live in (the cost of housing is very high because there is not enough housing to meet demand).
• The wealth of Hong Kong comes from its harbour which is on one of the major international maritime trade routes, financial services (stock exchange, banking, insurance, etc.), and industry.
• Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842 up to 1997 (when it was handed back to the People’s Republic of China).
• It is today a Special Economic Zone and a Special Administrative Zone.
• It is a multicultural and cosmopolitan city (open to the world). 
• The official languages of Hong Kong are Cantonese, English and Mandarin.
• Hong Kong faces a number of problems: high population pressure due to the big influx of immigrants and the lack of space, rising income disparity, social and spatial disparity, lack of democracy (interference from the government of China which is communist), and pollution.

Below is a map of China (Hong Kong is in the south):

Below is a map of China showing Guangdong Province in red:

Guangdong Province (capital Guangzhou aka Canton), with about 110 million people, is the most populous region of China and it has become one of the world's wealthiest regions. China is now the world's second-biggest economy; Guangdong's GDP (not including Hong Kong and Macau) is as big as that of the Netherlands or of Indonesia. It exports as much as South Korea (in comparison, Guizhou, the poorest province of China, has an income per head close to that of India).

Below is a map of Guangdong Province showing three of the principal metropolitan areas around the Pearl River Delta:

Below is a map of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis:

Hong Kong is within the Pearl River Delta megalopolis, a huge urban area (also called "megaregion") made up of a chain of metropolitan areas.

Below is a map of the world's major maritime trade routes (situate the Pearl River Delta megalopolis; Hong Kong has managed to become wealthy because it has taken advantage of the fact that it is on one of the principal routes):

Below is a map of Hong Kong (made up of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories plus the more than 200 islands):

Recent photo of Hong Kong:

 Hong Kong today...and as it was in 1961 (CLICK HERE!)

Description of the above photo:

• It is a high oblique aerial colour photo of a very big coastal city that is highly developed.
• The area is enclosed (the mountains in the background, the sea).
• There are many colourful skyscrapers (housing and offices) close together in the foreground and in the middle distance.
• Some skyscrapers are very tall and modern (recent).
• There is a sheltered deep-sea harbour on the left, in the middle-distance.
• There is a ferry terminal on the right, in the middle-distance.
• There is a breakwater (against typhoons) on the left, in the middle-distance.
• Maritime transport is an important activity (there are many boats of all sizes, used to transport people and goods).
• There is a deep-water container port on the far left in the distance.
• There is land waiting to be redeveloped.
• There is land fill (flat land close to the sea and very built up).
• There does not appear to be any green space and we do not see many roads.

We can deduce, from studying the photo, that:

• there is a settlement here because of the advantageous coastal position;
• the area has been developed despite the constraints of the landscape (steep hills that are difficult to build on) and climatic conditions (typhoons?);
• the industrialized port facilities are an indication of important economic activity (sources of revenue based on import-export);
• the impressive development is due to the fact that it can cope with large container ships (using deep-sea harbour facilities that are ultra-modern) and it is obviously very well situated on a maritime trade route;
• this type of urban environment is indicative of a highly developed economy (integrated into a globalized economy), and attractive to economic migrants (which explains the population pressure);
• the many skyscrapers are a practical solution (and not necessarily unecological) to the very high population density (i.e. too many people for the amount of available space);
• the CBD in the foreground and on the other side of the bay shows that there are many important company offices and undoubtedly highly competitive financial services activities;
• the very modern and very tall skyscrapers are prestigious buildings (to show power and wealth);
• land fill also indicates that demand for space is high;
• urban growth and spread is a challenge (because there is obviously population pressure and high demand for land for economic activity and recreational use);
• transport and mobility are diverse (there is a highly developed infrastructure, including ferries, large roads and bridges);
• planning for “sustainable” urban zones are probably, because of the intensive land use, not a priority (green space probably exists but is limited to land that cannot easily be built on, low and medium-rise housing is probably limited to the wealthy few);
• the littoralisation and maritimisation processes which have accelerated since the mid-1950s have undoubtedly led to environmental degradation (though there are today undoubtedly agreeable recreational areas, yacht marinas, etc., that are relatively unpolluted).

Comments:

• This photo, taken in 2008, is of Hong Kong.
• It was taken from above Victoria Peak, showing the northern part of Hong Kong Island in the foreground, Victoria Harbour and Kowloon in the middle distance, and the hills of the New Territories in the background (Tai Mo Shan, highest point, on the left).
• Skyscrapers for housing and offices are built to cope with the lack of space.
• The tallest building we can see is Two International Finance Centre on the right built in 2003. It is more than 400 meters tall. It is a pretigious building intended to show the power of the businesses that own the tower.
• The West Kowloon development has not started (the International Commercial Centre building in West Kowloon, completed in 2010, has not yet been built). Hong Kong is constantly growing.
• Most skyscrapers are concentrated on the north shore of Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon Peninsula on the other side of Victoria Bay.
• The Canton economy was based on farming and fishing until the British took control of Hong Kong. The British developed the harbour into a major trade hub, exporting China’s natural resources. Hong Kong is in southern China, well situated on a principal international maritime trade route; it can trade with South-East Asia, Oceania, and access South Asia, etc., via the Strait of Malacca.
• When the British left in 1997, the inhabitants and the Chinese authorities chose to pursue the town’s development (as it brings in wealth to and creates employment in China).
• Hong Kong has to be considered as part of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis; the transport network is being developped in order to allow easier mouvement of goods and people between the metropolitain areas that make up the megalopolis.

For an urban area to grow, the following are needed:

• a favourable geographical position (with easy access);
• favourable climate;
• resources (to build with, to invest and sell);
• an efficient transport infrastructure;
• adequate facilities (housing, schools, hospitals, social services);
• a work force that is plentiful, skilled and willing to work hard;
• competent and visionary business and civic leaders;
• diverse and dynamic economic activities;
• a stable economic and socio-political system;
• a healthy environment (not polluted);
• integration into the globalized economy.

Does Hong Kong have all of these necessary conditions? Judging from its impressive growth, it has, without a doubt, most of them (to varying degrees) and it is working on overcoming the constraints to its development, especially:

• lack of space which hinders economic activity, housing and transport;
• social (income) and spatial disparities;
• a weak democracy;
• access to resources like clean water;
• the problem of pollution.

Look at this satellite photo (plus use Google Maps):

From bottom to top: Hong Kong Island, Victoria Bay, Kowloon

Description and comments on the above photo:

• This photo of Hong Kong is centered on Victoria Bay.
• One notices the former port facilities of Victoria (north of Hong Kong Island) , and Kai Tak, where the airport used to be, in Kowloon (the new international airport is on land fill north of Lantau Island).
• West of Kowloon is the small Stonecutters Island (it has been attached to the mainland with landfill): cf. map
• Tsing Yi Island is surrounded by docks. It is linked to the mainland via bridges. Tsing Yi is linked to the new airport via Tsing Ma Bridge.
• Hong Kong island is linked to Kowloon via two tunnels and by a number of ferry boats.
• The shore line is made up of industrial port zones. Hong Kong is the ideal place to develop port activities: it’s a deep water harbour, quite well sheltered from typhoons by the islands that surround the natural land form harbour of Victoria Bay, ideal for large container ships (Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest ports).
• There is an aqueduct from Shenzen which brings in drinking water, and a new sewage treatment works on Stonecutters' Island.
• From the two photos above, the socio-spatial inequalities are not apparent.
• Kai Tak (site of the former airport) is being redeveloped, according to the city authorities, as a “sustainable” urban zone. The new town (planned community) of Hung Shui Kiu in the New Territories is described as an "eco-city". However, Hong Kong is not the best example of an "eco-city"; its priorities are wealth-creation through international exchange and developing facilities and access for its growing population. These are not easily compatible with the sustainable development of the region...
• Space is needed for economic activity and housing (there is high population pressure, increased by the number of immigrants, about 150 a day from mainland China). The lack of space is due to the fact that the city is surrounded by hills and faces the sea. This restricts urban growth and spread in Hong Kong.

The city copes with this lack of space in the following ways:

• all available space is being used and (re)developed;
• there is extensive land fill;
• skyscrapers have had to be built for both business and housing (Hong Kong has the greatest number of skyscrapers of any city in the world);
• the transport infrastructure is highly developed (roads, rail, bridges, tunnels, ferry boats) to enable easy access to the islands, the airport, and to other cities around the Pearl River Delta (this enables freer movement of people and goods over a wider area). Note that there are extensive green spaces for recreation (and for up-market housing).

Tsing Ma bridge

Tsing Ma bridge, completed in 1997, is an impressive example of how Hong Kong is coping with geographical and transport constraints.

To do:

Read page 80 of your textbook, take notes, and answer the questions at the bottom of the page.

To do:

Read page 81 of your textbook then answer the following questions:

Questions on the urban population map (2002) :

• Which parts of the world have the highest density of urban population?
• Do these areas have something in common which explains the high urban population density?

Questions on the world’s main agglomerations map :

• Why are urban areas of different sizes?
• Where are most of the largest urban areas situated and why?

ANSWERS

Questions on the urban population map (2002):

Which parts of the world have the highest density of urban population?

In red on the map: South America, Russia, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, South Korea and Japan, plus the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and Africa (Libya, Gabon).

Do these areas have something in common which explains the high urban population density?

The developing and highly developed parts of the world have the highest density of urban population. They have in common the fact that they are wealthy or are undergoing economic growth. The (growing) populations are attracted to the cities and these cities concentrate more and more people (this is called ‘urbanisation’). Cities are attractive because they offer the possibility of work and markets, and access to goods and services (schools, hospitals, leisure activities).

Questions on the world’s main agglomerations map:

Why are urban areas of different sizes?

Some cities (such as London, Paris, New York) are long-established urban centres of world importance and have become very big. Others, in developing parts of the world (such as China and India) have rapidly-growing urban centres because of the rapid rise of population and economic growth started in the second half of the 20^th century. Some cities (such as those around the Pearl River Delta) will join up to form megacities soon.

Where are most of the largest urban areas situated and why?

They are close to the coast and use the international maritime routes (which contribute to their economic and population growth).