Land Use Planning In Hong Kong

This book addresses one of Hong Kong's most sensitive issues: land-use planning d its effects on land supply and the housing market. The present planning system and the conflicts between various planning ordinances are criticized. The book proposes several ways to minimizing the transaction costs of development and environmental improvement.

Provides an account of the concept of the use and change in use of land, and an outline of the procedures for lease modifications and waivers, planning applications, reviews and appeals, and building applications and approvals. It also includes an overview of government enforcement against contravention of lease conditions, provisions of statutory town plans prepared under the Town Planning Ordinance, and provisions of the Buildings Ordinance -- Back cover.

First published in 1998, this volume is certain to be the definitive work about the practice of land-use and transport planning in Hong Kong. Dimitriou and Cook explore the historical developments, current issues and problems, policy and planning responses and new directions. Hong Kong has experienced remarkable economic growth as the ‘Gateway to China’ and its land-use has become a model for other cities in the region and for China as a whole.

This book is the first systematic attempt to introduce the current practice and statistics of town planning in Hong Kong. Part I gives an analytical account of the practical and ideological context, discusses design principles and describes procedures of town planning with particular reference to change in use. The emphasis is on skills of plan interpretation and an appreciation of the intellectual disposition of planners and various objective constraints confronting them. Part II is the first of its kind in presenting and analysing the statistics of planning applications for 11 zones from 1978 to 1998. The success rates of planning applications as well as the main reasons used by the Town Planning Board for rejecting planning applications are elucidated.

Land Use Planning Made Plain is a practical guide for planners, administrators, politicians, developers, property owners, and the general public on how to make and implement land use decisions. It seeks to develop a set of coherent planning principles by drawing out useful and generally applicable elements from various systems and approaches. Hok-Lin Leung's focus is on planning at the city level, and he has organized the text according to the logical sequence of plan-making: justifications for making a land use plan, a plan for plan-making, planning goals, information, analysis, synthesis, and implementation. He addresses major debates in land planning today, including controversial material, and concludes with suggestions on the qualifications and qualities of a land use planner. By encouraging a shared understanding of the purpose, analytic skills and substantive considerations of plan-making – as well as the ways and means of plan-implementation – this book helps the planner to become more responsible and responsive to the many issues surrounding land use and its important role in addressing human needs.

The changes will be economically disruptive because they increase uncertainty in property markets, weaken the contractual nature of land development, and provide more opportunities for planners and the general public to delay development. The result will be more volatile property markets, reduced supply and higher prices and rents.