Infrastructure – Page 2 – ENHANCE HONG KONG

TUNNEL TOLL EQUALIZATION

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s three “cross-harbour” tunnels have greatly differing tunnel tolls, resulting in predictable congestion at the cheapest tunnel.

SOLUTION: Take cost avoidance out of the equation and equalize the tolls for all three tunnels and allow traffic to redistribute itself into the most efficient travel patterns.

The three cross-harbour tunnels snaking beneath Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour are currently priced at differing levels, with the Western Harbour Crossing costing 3-4 times more than the Cross-Harbour Tunnel and Eastern Harbour Crossing. Each tunnel has differing ownership and operator structures, and at least one has been accused of incrementally increasing tolls each year despite enjoying record profits.

The Cross-Harbour Tunnel opened in 1972 and is owned / operated by the HKSAR Government / Serco Group (HK) Limited; similarly the 1989 Eastern Harbour Crossing is owned / operated by the HKSAR Government / Pacific Infrastructure Limited. The newest 1997 Western Harbour Crossing is owned / operated by the Western Harbour Tunnel Company.

What if the Government could restructure the operations of all three tunnels and strike a profit-sharing agreement with each tunnel operator and equalize the tolls across all three critical links connecting Hong Kong Island with Kowloon?
To what extent could this reduce cross-harbour vehicle travel times and reduce the amount of vehicular pollutants that are emitted into our already filthy air?
How much time could be saved for commuters if large portions of private vehicles and taxis could be redistributed to the Eastern and Western Crossings when the cost differential is taken out of the equation?
What if motorcycle riders were exempted from tunnel tolls, or at least outfitted with autopay readers on their helmets to ensure smooth traffic flow?

Why not do a trial run for one year and see what happens?

For a long-term solution to Hong Kong’s transportation ills, some of suggested taking the Western Harbour Crossing, MTR and all bus companies into public ownership. Could this be the way forward?

TAXI TRACKING

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s taxis have gained a poor reputation for taking residents and tourists on the “scenic route” to their destinations … just to make an extra buck!

SOLUTION: Provide GPS tracking and identification of all taxis for trip audits in the event of a dispute, and to more efficiently dispatch taxis to meet the needs of both passengers and drivers.

How many times have you been “taken for a ride” by an unscrupulous Hong Kong taxi driver in a poorly maintained vehicle that reeks of urine and cigarette smoke? Could a mandatory GPS tracking system and interactive driver rating system be implemented to safeguard both passengers and drivers, as well as minimize disputes?

Since Uber is still not an approved public transport option in Hong Kong, consider a comprehensive overhaul of the current taxi industry to provide a positive impact on Hong Kong’s tourism industry and residents’ quality of life.

Consider the following ideas:

Install a GPS tracking system in each taxi that is linked with a Taxi Hailing app that efficiently matches passengers with nearby taxis and taxis with their preferred routes, all while being monitored by a central taxi dispatching center. This would also provide a time-stamped audit trail of routes taken to dissuade unscrupulous drivers from taking the “scenic route” and to minimize passenger complaints.
Provide drivers with an interface to a real-time traffic conditions map that assists drivers in taking the least congested route for maximum efficiency, and to maximize their number of revenue-generating trips per day.
Provide QR codes on the passenger side door which passengers could scan with their smartphones, and instantly ascertain the rating of that driver.
Create an interactive taxi app to allow passengers to rate the vehicle and its driver relative to driver safety, hygienic condition of the taxi, driver courteousness, and other factors that are compiled into an overall composite score per trip.
Greatly reduce staffing levels at taxi complaints hotlines due to a predicted dramatic fall in complaints.
Provide a central database with each professional driver’s licensing history, training, traffic violations, passenger complaints, etc. for use by the Department of Transport in granting and renewing individual taxi licenses.
Provide driver protection — assuming privacy issues are addressed, the smartphone ID of particularly abusive or disorderly passengers could be flagged, allowing drivers to decline a fare.
Provide Government subsidies for the repair, upkeep and detailing of individual vehicles to motivate drivers to improve their scores.
Provide a financial reward scheme for drivers with the highest composite scores.

Could Hong Kong’s taxi industry be vastly improved through some of these initiatives which could minimize complaints and incentivize drivers to improve their service? Singapore currently employs several similar strategies and should be further assessed whether some might be adopted for use in Hong Kong.

VICTORIA HARBOUR WATER TAXIS

OBSERVATION: Water crossings across Hong Kong’s busy Victoria Harbour are primarily restricted to a handful of ferry piers, while lateral travel along the coastline is limited to land-based public transportation options.

SOLUTION: Could a new water taxi system be provided along the length of both sides of Victoria Harbour to provide more flexible water transportation options?

Travel along the edges of Victoria Harbour is largely limited to land-based public transportation options; however, could Hong Kong emulate Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River water taxi system, which provides convenient water transport for millions?

Could a water taxi system along the edge of Victoria Harbour provide convenient transport options? Imagine tourists arriving at Kai Tak Cruise terminal traveling to a seafood dinner in Lei King Wan in just a few short hops by water taxi.

If Hong Kong Island ‘s waterfront were to be improved with a continuous pedestrian promenade, this promenade could be punctuated by water taxi stops at various intervals to provide efficient lateral transport along the coastline without reliance on land-based transportation systems. Could these relatively small watercraft be electric-powered and non-polluting to reduce the net amount of pollution ordinarily associated with vehicular public transportation?

Select cross-harbour water taxis could also supplement the widely-used current Star Ferry routes by running between less frequented piers.

KOWLOON TRAMS

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s historic trams continue to ply the north coast of Hong Kong island and provide an affordable and scenic public transportation option, while Kowloon has fewer options.

SOLUTION: Could a new tram system be created in Kowloon linking Tsim Sha Tsui with districts further to the north?

Hong Kong Island’s beloved and iconic trams have been in operation since 1904 and are currently operated by Hong Kong Tramways Limited. Could a new tram network be created to provide an affordable high-density transport option through some of Kowloon’s most populous neighborhoods and reduce vehicular traffic?

Pending a feasibility study, such a tram line might mirror the alignment of the MTR line beneath Nathan Road and Cheung Sha Wan Road. A southern terminus of a new tram line might be provided at the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui, with services extending to Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mongkok, Prince Edward, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, and Lai Chi Kok, with a terminus / depot in Mei Foo.

SAI KUNG FERRY

OBSERVATION: Sai Kung, located in Hong Kong’s New Territories, is plagued with very limited access from the urban areas, yet is equipped with a public pier.

SOLUTION: Provide a new ferry service between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to Sai Kung to improve access for residents and visitors.

Sai Kung is often a favorite weekend destination for tourists and residents.

Access to Sai Kung from Hong Kong’s urban areas is primarily by road, and getting to this picturesque seaside community — especially during busy weekends — is often a complete nightmare for both residents and visitors alike.

Sai Kung is equipped with a public pier that currently accommodates a wide variety of Kaitos, sampans, speedboats, ferries and junks that provide daytrips to nearby islands, the Hong Kong Geopark and surrounding areas. While the concept of providing regular ferry services linking Sai Kung to the more populous urban areas has been discussed in the past, the financial viability of operating such a regular ferry service has often been cited as problematic.

Could the Government provide subsidies to a private operator — at least during weekends — to provide an alternative transportation option to and from Sai Kung that is not reliant on road access?

MORE PUBLIC TOILETS

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong has a shocking lack of public toilets relative to its urban density. The few toilets that are provided are often in a grave state of disrepair, but most of the time, the question on everyone’s mind is … when you gotta go, where do you go?

SOLUTION: Upgrade existing dilapidated public toilets and provide new toilets at strategic street level locations that are easily accessible and identifiable through a new graphic signage system and linked with smartphone apps.

Many of Hong Kong’s public toilets are in a state of disrepair and lack vandal-resistant, durable materials.

Some public washrooms are only accessible by a flight of stairs — if you’re in a wheelchair, you’re literally up s**t creek!

Hong Kong’s public toilets are often few and far between, and while these are generally under the purview of Hong Kong’s Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the hygienic condition of these facilities is often appalling, and some are completely inaccessible to the elderly or those with disabilities. The directional signage for these toilets is often antiquated or missing, with text in English and Chinese only.

In the more developed urban areas of Hong Kong, people have come to rely upon nearby shopping centers which have toilets sequestered away on upper floors — reserved for tenants and customers — and many are locked and require key access to prevent members of the public from stealing valuable rolls of toilet paper! Since most public transport facilities like the MTR lack public toilets, the location of toilets within close proximity are often a carefully guarded secret — a nightmarish scenario for first-time visitors to the city. Ideally, members of the public should have DIRECT access to public toilets, without needing to enter private premises to “do their business.”

It is any wonder that visitors’ children end up urinating in trash bins, and baby nappies are changed in dark corners of public areas, as passersby howl in protest?

IMAGINE breathing a sigh of relief and your bladder relaxing as a new era of public toilets is ushered in! While the FEHD is making slow progress, here are some ideas:

Provide an urgent comprehensive upgrade to the city’s public toilets, relative to fixtures, finishes, lighting, durability, vandal-resistance, accessibility and ventilation.
Ensure all transportation interchanges (bus terminals, MTR stations, etc.) are equipped with public toilets.
Provide at least one unisex disabled / family toilet at each public toilet location equipped with a flip-down diaper-changing table.
Strive to have public toilets located within a 500 m walk of most public areas.
Commission a study and provide new public toilets at key hotspots.
Provide a new universal graphic signage / wayfinding system throughout the city that clearly identifies routes to toilets. Consider colorful pictograms that do not rely on English or Chinese script, which can be universally comprehended by visitors from any country.
Develop a smartphone app that automatically identifies the location of public toilets relative to one’s location, provides real-time status reports whether the toilet is closed for cleaning or renovation, and provides a feedback mechanism for the public to rate toilets and provide helpful suggestions to the FEHD and their cleaning contractors.

PUBLIC GREEN WALLS

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s often disappointing public spaces are sometimes bordered by mundane elements of the built environment that further demoralize residents who live there.

SOLUTION: Provide a network of public green walls to beautify the built environment, enhance residential communities, increase property values, assist in stormwater management, and purify the air.

This large retaining wall along Taikoo Shing Road faces a popular park fronting One Island East and epitomizes the concept of a “concrete jungle”.

Could this utilitarian retaining wall become a public green wall to beautify Taikoo Shing and potentially assist in stormwater management from the retaining wall’s weepholes? Could the plants help purify the air along this busy road?

SPEED BUMPS

OBSERVATION: Many Hong Kong drivers — most notably taxi drivers — have a propensity for sailing through marked pedestrian crossings at high speeds, completely ignoring pedestrian safety.

SOLUTION: As in many other global cities, install speed bumps or provide new raised pedestrian crossings as traffic calming measures to force vehicles to slow down.

How many times have you almost been mowed over while crossing the street at a designated “zebra” crossing with flashing lights?

ESCALATOR SAFETY

OBSERVATION: The Hong Kong MTR and other public facilities have deafening prerecorded audio messages urging passengers to hold the handrail as they ride — which typically fall on deaf ears in one of the world’s noisiest cities.

SOLUTION: Provide new brightly-colored yellow rubber handrails with hand pictograms to provide subliminal visual cues for passengers to hold on — young children are very likely to place their own hand directly upon the image of the hand, and might help train them to hold on as they ride.

Why not do a trial run of pictogram escalator hand rails and determine if these in fact result in an increase of the number of passengers who grip the handrails as they ride? It’s worth a try!

Could new escalator handrails be provided which improve passenger safety? Could these same handrails be of a new high-tech material that is not only anti-microbial, but might even actively cleanse one’s hands and fingertips as they grip, improving hygiene levels across the city?

MTR PUBLIC TOILETS

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s MTR is one of the highest-rated public transportation systems in the world; however, at least 75% of the system’s stations lack public toilets which are an expected feature in international transit systems.

SOLUTION: While newer MTR stations have been thoughtfully designed to include public toilets, older stations need to be retrofitted with some form of public toilet solution in order to provide consistency throughout the entire network. When you gotta go, you gotta go!

Public toilets for commuters at Sheung Wan MTR Station — a much appreciated amenity for passengers, which is a rarity throughout the network.

The Hong Kong MTR system currently has 91 stations and 68 Light Rail stops across ten main commuter lines throughout Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. While most were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, today just over 20 stations (primarily interchange stations) have been retrofitted with public toilets — a scant 25% of total MTR stations.

The MTR has cited various technical challenges associated with retrofitting existing stations with new toilets, which include limitations in existing sewerage capacities, the risks of overlapping plumbing with high voltage electrical systems, challenges in providing sufficient ventilation, among other factors. However, many of these obstacles are based on installing a traditional toilet system … maybe it’s time to think outside of the box?

IDEA: Could there be a system of unisex odorless waterless composting toilets that could be easily installed in each station? Could these be housed within vandal-resistant permanent enclosures that would have minimal impact on the station’s infrastructure?

Could a paid competition attract Hong Kong’s universities and product designers to invent a high-capacity composting toilet system that would cater to the masses, minimize water use, use composting materials derived from daily grounds keeping activities (which would otherwise wind up in a landfill) in order to provide a sanitary solution for a dense urban environment like Hong Kong?

HONG KONG ISLAND WATERFRONT PROMENADE

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong has one of the most spectacular harbourfronts in the world … yet, many areas are largely inaccessible by pedestrians due to poor urban planning. The waterfront promenades that do exist are fragmented and isolated.

SOLUTION: Provide a continuous 25-km waterfront pedestrian and bicycle path network along the northern edge of Hong Kong Island stretching from Aberdeen to Chai Wan.

Pedestrianized harbourfront areas along the north coast of Hong Kong Island are fragmented and few in number …

Could an ambitious new waterfront promenade be created? Benefits of a continuous waterfront promenade for Hong Kong residents would include:

Increased well-being through a connection with water
Improved air quality for pedestrians at waterfront areas
A vehicle-free pedestrianized area that allows residents the option to safely commute between home and work by riding a bicycle or walking
Increased levels of fitness and healthy lifestyle choices
A chance for the beloved rickshaw to make a comeback for short-haul resident or tourist transport … before history is erased
Intermittent pedestrian links to existing inland tram and MTR stops that already mirror the existing coastline
Existing waterfront promenades could be leveraged and provided with linkages at each end to form a continuous network
Opportunities for a new waterfront taxi network — not unlike Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River — for short hops between waterfront stops
Creation of intermodal transportation hubs linking ferries, water taxis, roadways, bicycle / walking paths, MTR and trams

An early 2006 concept submitted to the HKSAR Government for redeveloping the Central Waterfront into a pedestrianized zone prior to the Tamar Government Headquarters, some of which has partially been implemented years later. Illustration (c) 2006 Thomas Schmidt – All rights reserved

Hong Kong based architect Thomas Schmidt asks: WHAT IF one could walk or bike unfettered along a 25-km stretch of the northern coastline of Hong Kong Island? WHAT IF you could safely ride a bicycle — free from traffic — along dedicated bike lanes from Aberdeen to Chai Wan in just over an hour?

How would all of our lives change for the better?

Could there be pedestrian-friendly access from the nearby Wong Chuk Hang MTR station to the starting point of a new 25-km continuous waterfront promenade?

Could the fishing and boating industry co-exist with new public access to the waterfront in this area?

What if Waterfall Park enjoyed more public accessibility?

Would the residents of Bel-Air like an option to walk or bike to work in Central or beyond, instead of being forced to rely upon motorized transport?

Imagine a Cyberport that is actually accessible as it was originally intended years ago …
Could there even be a new ferry terminal that puts the “port” back into Cyberport?

Would HKU students enjoy a healthy option of being able walk or bike to sports practice?

What if Pokfulam was much more accessible during heavy traffic through a new pedestrian and bicycle path along the scenic coastline, provided it was executed in a sensitive manner?

Could this dead end of Kennedy Town be re-activated, and “temporary” recreation areas become permanent? Could new water taxis serve this evolving area?

Could Belcher Bay Park could be extended all the way to the water’s edge to provide a gathering area for residents of Kennedy Town and Shek Tong Tsui?

Could the terminus of the historic Hong Kong Tram at Whitty Street be linked to a new promenade connecting different districts?

Could a resident ride a bicycle from Wanchai and then catch a bus to Kowloon through the Western Harbour Tunnel?

What if there were a waterfront link between the popular Macau Ferry Terminal and the existing promenade along the Central Ferry Piers?

Could the existing Central / Tamar Park waterfront be a critical link in a long chain of “people places” along the northern coast of Hong Kong Island … instead of an isolated promenade?

What if Golden Bauhinia Square was actually accessible by pedestrians? What if Hong Kong Convention Center delegates could walk or bike to nearby hotels along one of the world’s best waterfronts?

Could the *Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club* become more accessible and help this area thrive as a true water sports center?

Could the redevelopment of the former Excelsior Hotel provide new pedestrian links from the Causeway Bay MTR station to the venerable Noonday Gun and a new waterfront promenade?

Could the upcoming redevelopment of the Oil Street site include a green lung for choking Fortress Hill and provide a link to a new waterfront park?

Could the existing ferry terminals and bus stations be redeveloped into a multi-modal travel hub that ties into a pedestrian and biking promenade beneath the Island Eastern Corridor?

Why allocate parking along prime waterfront areas when these areas could be developed into parks for the people?

Imagine if the various fragments of successful existing waterfront promenades could be integrated into a continuous network along the entire coastline.

Could the existing Sai Wan Ho Harbour Front Park fronting Soho East be joined to the existing Aldrich Bay promenade?

What if the little-visited Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence had convenient pedestrian / bicycle access from the rest of the island?

What if Heng Fa Chuen residents could bicycle to work in Central in just half an hour?

Chai Wan’s aging industrial area is ripe for redevelopment and adaptive reuse — could this unique cargo basin area become a vibrant waterfront area like Nyhavn in Copenhagen, Denmark someday?

What if Siu Sai Wan and the relatively remote Island Resort were better connected with the rest of Hong Kong?

Besides the many logistics, feasibility studies, and government approvals required for such an integrated network, why can’t Hong Kong begin to implement an ambitious plan to celebrate one of the most famous waterfronts in the world?

MTR ISLAND LINE LOOP

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s MTR route planning is often a carefully guarded secret — presumably to dissuade land speculation — but there are areas which might provide logical extensions over the long term.

SOLUTION: Provide an extension of the MTR’s Island Line past Kennedy Town, connecting with Cyberport, and linking with South Horizons on the South Island Line. This could help revitalize the isolated and struggling Cyberport development, provide better access to residents on the western side of Hong Kong island, and provide a loop that allows commuters greater flexibility in travel both ways.

Wouldn’t it just make sense to connect the two existing dead-ends and form a loop to breathe new life into a flailing Cyberport? Or perhaps this was always the MTR’s ultimate plan?

Could the Island and Island South MTR lines be extended past Kennedy Town and South Horizons, and joined to provide 3-4 new MTR stations serving the northwest portion of Hong Kong Island? What if new MTR stations could be provided at Sandy Bay, Cyberport and Waterfall Bay? Imagine the dramatic impact this would have on the currently-struggling Cyberport development, and convenience for residents living in this area. This would naturally increase ridership levels along the current “dead ends” of these two lines which should be of interest to the MTR Corporation.

URBAN ROOF FARMING

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s roofs are vastly underutilized and contribute the city’s “heat island effect.”

SOLUTION: Provide green roofs on Hong Kong’s flat rooftops that are allow for small-scale food production.

What if only a fraction of the thousands of Hong Kong’s underutilized rooftops were to be retrofitted with green roofs? New buildings could have permanent installations, while older buildings with structural limitations could be retrofitted with lighter weight modular units.

BENEFITS:

Teaches our children where food comes from and how it’s grown
Reduces thermal gain to floors below
Assists in stormwater management
Becomes a community gathering area, especially for the elderly
Strengthens neighborhood building
Facilitates corporate CSR objectives
Decreases reliance on imported food

An experimental roof farm atop Causeway Bay’s Hysan Place at which volunteers come and go and cultivate their own veggies.

Taking things one step further; if Hong Kong’s rooftops could be come urban farms; could these areas also become more vertical in nature and have multiple stacked layers?

ISLAND EAST PEDESTRIANIZATION

OBSERVATION: Island East on Hong Kong Island has some outstanding pedestrianized zones, yet they are fragmented and disconnected — and most are devoid of al fresco dining due to much-criticized government regulations.

SOLUTION: Provide a continuous park-like pedestrianized zone linking the Quarry Bay and Tai Koo MTR Stations, emphasizing al fresco dining and food culture.

What if the excellent pedestrianized areas of Taikoo Shing and neighboring Island East were interconnected? What if a food-based pedestrian experience could be created stretching between the Quarry Bay and Taikoo MTR stations?

July 2019 proposal submitted to Swire Development to improve the pedestrian experience in the One Island East area. The proposal has yet to be acknowledged.

HOUSING AT DISNEY

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong suffers from a lack of land that can be readily developed for urgent housing needs — which many blame as a major factor behind the city’s social ills.

SOLUTION: Send the Mouse Packing, and Let’s Get Cracking … Redevelop the loss-making Disneyland into new housing in a prime area that is already provided with sufficient infrastructure and transport links.

Hong Kong Disneyland is surrounded by extensive tracts of flat land that are sitting idle and are conveniently accessible by pedestrian walkways, MTR, roadways, and ferry.

A beautifully-landscaped pedestrian promenade linking Disneyland MTR station and an unused ferry terminal. Where are all the people?

Hosting only one ferry per day, could the largely unused Disney ferry terminal be transformed from a white elephant into a productive transportation hub that benefits the residents of Hong Kong?

HOUSING AT DISNEY? What if the vacant land surrounding the existing Hong Kong Disneyland were to be developed into housing? Is the idea really so outlandish? 26,000 low-rise residential flats could be developed for 75,000 residents in a very short period of time, while allowing the theme park to remain in operation and preserve its sight lines from within the Park. This prime urban area is served by MTR, highway, and is blessed with an unused ferry terminal hungry for passengers.

An idea generated in June 2018. (c) 2018 Thomas Schmidt All Rights Reserved

WHAT IF DISNEY DISAPPEARED? As a more radical alternative, what if the existing Hong Kong Disneyland were to be completely dismantled in favor of a new and improved cross-border Mega-Disney Theme Park, and the entire site were to be redeveloped for housing? This could yield at least 120,000 residential flats in a community for 350,000 residents with MTR, ferry and road access.

If a wholesale redevelopment of this area also included ADDITIONAL LAND RECLAMATION, a 150 m wide strip of reclaimed land along the majority of the existing waterfront could produce another 50 HA of buildable land for housing and water recreation areas. This could yield another 26,500 flats at the proposed density. A selective reclamation of foreshore areas would arguably have a lower environmental impact than the creation of new off-shore artificial islands as some have proposed in recent years, and take a fraction of the time.

With minimal reclamation along its edge, the entire Disney site could be redeveloped affordably in a concentrated effort to provide an accessible community of almost 500,000 residents in just a matter of years … not decades.

VICTORIA HARBOUR RECLAMATION

OBSERVATION: The creation of land supply in Hong Kong through reclamation has been used extensively, with varying levels of controversy. The Government is currently mulling reclamation of a massive island for long-term housing.

SOLUTION: Seek out alternatives to land reclamation to increase Hong Kong’s housing supply.

HONG KONG’S VICTORIA HARBOUR: A TRIP THROUGH TIME

See how this spectacular harbour has been transformed over the years … and what might happen if land reclamation continues unchecked. While originally drawn in 2014, the dystopian future depicted could still become a reality!

POCKET PARKS

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s designated “sitting out” spaces, or outdoor public parks, for communities are often dismal depressing patches of concrete between buildings.

SOLUTION: Completely revamp the city’s existing sitting out spaces and create well-designed “pocket parks” to improve residents’ lives in an otherwise concrete jungle.

Could Hong Kong’s existing urban “open spaces” receive a major revamp to make them more usable while beautifying the city? Imagine how spaces could be transformed for the better?

Could more spaces in Hong Kong be more thoughtfully designed like this pedestrian-friendly space in Sheung Wan?

Open space fronting Grand Millennium Plaza in Sheung Wan — a very pleasant space to sit and eat outdoors.

COMMUNITY RECYCLING CENTERS

OBSERVATION: Hong Kong produces a high level of waste per capita, yet has one of the worst recycling rates in the developed world.

SOLUTION: Provide new community recycling centers at the neighborhood level which facilitate the collection and processing of recyclable materials and serves as a community gathering point.

Copyright 2014 Thomas Schmidt; All Rights Reserved

PEDESTRIANIZED URBAN AREAS

OBSERVATION: Pedestrians in Hong Kong are completely overrun by vehicle-dominated infrastructure and outdated planning policies.

SOLUTION: Provide an urban revitalization plan that includes the temporary and permanent pedestrianization of key streets to foster walkable communities and to reduce the reliance on vehicles.