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Hong Kong's Gentrification


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Hong Kong's Gentrification, is it mainly Transport-driven ?

 

Post : Area

001 : Kwun Tong

 

 

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Future areas may be influenced by Transport:

 

Future MTR MAP : http://veenspace.com/2014/01/135/

 

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Admiralty Future development

The North South Corridor of the Sha Tin to Central Link project and the South Island Line (East) are under development, completing in 2020 and 2016 respectively. The former will allow commuters from the northeast New Territories direct interchange from the East Rail Line, whereas the latter, terminating at Admiralty, will give residents in the Southern District much quicker access to the CBD. A new underground interchange concourse with natural light will be built to the east of the current concourse, taking up one level, allowing passengers to transfer to the new lines, conveniently. The Sha Tin to Central Link will be one level under the interchange concourse, with the South Island Line being directly below it. Exits E1 and E2 are being rebuilt into one eye-catching exit to accommodate the glass roof of the interchange concourse. There will also be a little rooftop garden in the new Admiralty Station.

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_Station_%28MTR%29

 

Tung Chung Line Future development

The Tung Chung Line was designed to facilitate an extension from Hong Kong Station eastward. According to the Rail Projects Under Planning 2000 released by Hong Kong Highways Department, two new stations, Tamar Station, Exhibition Station and Causeway Bay North Station, will form part of the extension. The line will then connect North Point Station and merge into the Tseung Kwan O Line.

Residents of Yat Tung Estate have appealed to the government to extend the Tung Chung Line to Tung Chung West Station near Yat Tung to ease their transportation problems. Yat Tung currently has 40,000 residents. They claimed that when they moved in 11 years ago, the Housing Bureau's documents indicated a MTR station at the estate. The residents currently have to take a 10-minute bus journey to Tung Chung Station.

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_Chung_Line

 

Or this:

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> MTR, Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_projects_of_the_MTR

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Kwun Tong neighbourhood guide - creative haven that's gentrifying

Christopher DeWolf

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Start From Zero's furniture workshop in Kwun Tong. Photos: Christopher DeWolf

Kwun Tong's story is not unique. Most cities have an old industrial area where factories and warehouses emerge from obsolescence to become havens for artists, musicians, designers, entrepreneurs and anyone else looking for cheap rent. Kwun Tong is all Hong Kong: a peculiar blend of art and commerce in a landscape of grimy buildings that seem frozen in time.

Although it was a centre of salt production dating back to the late 1200s, Kwun Tong's modern history didn't kick off until the 1950s, when it was developed as Hong Kong's first new town. It soon became the roiling heart of working-class Hong Kong, a bastion of left-wing politics and a centre of manufacturing for everything from textiles to plastics to electrical appliances. In 1979, when the first MTR line opened, it led not to Central but to Kwun Tong.

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On the waterfront: Kwun Tong's promenade is a great place to relax.

When industrial production was relocated to China in the 1990s, Kwun Tong's empty, highly affordable industrial spaces were colonised by creative types; musicians were especially fond of the area.

. . .

ART OF THE DISTRICT

Kwun Tong's business-friendly makeover has taken its toll on the neighbourhood's cultural scene. While Osage Kwun Tong once boasted the most spacious private art space in the city, the contemporary art gallery has been forced to downsize its former 15,000 sq ft home for more modest digs. But it's still one of the most exciting art destinations in town, with a roster of local artists including Wilson Shieh and Leung Mee-ping.

These days, what remains of the area's creative energy can be seen at the pop-up craft markets and parties in spaces like A Nice Place To … and the rooftop of the Easy-Pack Industrial Building, which is home to designers such as the Cave Workshop. This year saw the debut of Sunday Agenda, a monthly flea market and music festival at Hidden Agenda, a stalwart venue that has survived government raids to become the city's top indie music venue.

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> more: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1794432/kwun-tong-neighbourhood-guide-creative-haven-thats-gentrifying?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=edm&utm_content=20150514&utm_campaign=scmp_today

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ODD Buildings, Odd History ... Too Dense to Replace ?

 

MILK CARTONS? - Kowloon's odd Man Wai buildings, a product of regulations

 

MilkCarton_zps6ffjx0ud.jpg

 

Rent controls and changing regulations came together to "inspire" the construction of the milk-carton-like

Man Wai buildings in lower Kowloon.

 

These buildings are now in a "prime" location thanks to the construction of the XRL Rail station just 1-2 minutes walk away.

 

How did buildings like this get designed? Today's SCMP (pg.B8) provides the answer.

 

A population boom in HK in the 1950's raised the colony's population from 600,000 to 2.3 million.

And the stresses that came with this, triggered rent controls and changing building regulations. With rent controls in place,

it became difficult to evict tenants, and was almost impossible to redevelop old buildings.

 

In 1955, new building regulations permitted considerably higher structures, raising average building heights from 3.6 stories

to an average of 9.4 stories for buildings constructed from 1960 to 1962. And there was an easing of rent controls, which

had spurred redevelopment, and new constructions proceeded at "a breakneck pace."

 

A plot ratio amendment in 1962 contained an odd loophole, allowing buildings build to older specifications to be built up to

Jan. 1, 1966, and there was a "disastrous building rush" between 1962, and 1965. To gain extra floors, landlords introduced

set-backs allowing them to add as many as 3-7 extra stories. These had to be constructed with "steps" at a 76 degree angle,

to allow light to reach street level.

 

This great building rush led to excess construction, and may have been a cause of bank runs and recession after 1965, and

even of the 1967 riots, speculates Professor Richard Wong, writing in THE VIEW column of today's SCMP.

 

TIMING the Hong Kong Property CYCLE

 

Peaks : 1965 + 16? = 1979 +16? = 1997 + 18 = 2015 (numbers need adjusting)

 

ccil.jpg

/ source: http://202.72.14.202/cci/charts/ccil.jpg

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The Art of Change / in Sham Shui Po - SCMP - C5

 

A luxury hostel will soon join creative ventures enriching the social fabric of Sham Shui Po,

but can this gentrification stay benign ?

 

+ In the textile district south of Nam Cheong St, many wholesalers have been forced out of business, as small scale industries

and the manufacturers they supplied, left for cheaper pastures

+ Holdouts include new businesses run by young designers, who are banding together to promote the media in a newsletter

and on social media : "the whole fabric is turning into something special", says Michael Tam, owner of Cafe Sausalito coffee shop

 

A new luxury hostel with 150-beds, swimming pool and a bar, on Apliu Street will be ready to open (in 3-4 years) backed by:

+ Yenn Wong Pui-yain, the female entrepreneur behind restaurants: Aberdeen Street Social and Duddell's - and:

+ Her husband, Alan Lo Yeung-kit, founder of The Pawn and Classified

"Sham Shui Po (SSP) is somewhere that has a lot of history and is very cultural... We started exploring areas that have a lot of potential and can gentrify in a good way."

But some residents are skeptical about the notion benign gentrification:

 

: "Its a chain reaction... the new buildings push up the prices for the who area, and people will have to move out."

 

What is unique about SSP is its inclusiveness...

 

 

 

(more)

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Link ? : http://m.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1805321/second-coming-sham-shui-po-revelation-or-revolt-gentrification?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=edm&utm_content=20150523&utm_campaign=scmp_today

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