Kwun Tong is an old district with dense population. In the
past, most of its land uses are residential area and industrial area. However,
it has been a changing community along with the urban development in Hong Kong. From this soundscape study, we could get to
know more about this changing community.
To start off, first
take a brief look on Kwun Tong’s history. In the 1950s, Kwun Tong was one of
the industrial villages in Hong Kong. There were many densely packed industrial
buildings. However, in the 1970s, the development of factories reached its
peak. Not only Kwun Tong, but the whole industry. In 1979, Kwun Tong MTR
station was opened. During the 1990s, some of the factories in Kwun Tong
started their relocation to Mainland China. In 2000, some of the empty
industrial building was changed to commerce use. And in 2008, the Kwun Tong
Town Centre Project was launched.
My soundscape
project on Kwun Tong can be divided into three parts: The Old Kwun Tong, Kwun
Tong under redevelopment, and Kwun Tong today.
First let me talk
about the old Kwun Tong community. Kwun Tong was actually the first new town in
Hong Kong. Also, it was one of the key industrial villages. Therefore, the
soundscape I could find in Kwun Tong was mainly from industrial estates. During
the 1960s, there were a lot of mainland people coming to Hong Kong. They have
become the main source of manpower of the manufacturing industry. Some of them
lived in Kwun Tong resettlement area and Kwun Tong government low cost housing
estates.
In community
aspect, Kwun Tong is always a place being described as a place has strong human
bonding between people. Although there are different people with different
background living in the community, they live in a harmony and composing
neighbourhood that has good human touch. From the soundtrack of hawker, we can
see how they live harmoniously in their own way. And today, we could still find
some of the soundscapes kept since the old days. The soundtrack of buses noises
is a good example. In the past, when there was still isn’t MTR connecting the
districts, buses were the main public transports which people used to travel.
However, as the launch of MTR station and redevelopment work there, some bus
lines were changed or cancelled so there isn’t much buses noises as before.
About the
redevelopment work, it was carried out by the Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority.
There are a few principles which they claimed to have followed during the
redevelopment work. These principles include creating quality and vibrant urban
living, replacing old buildings so to provide a better living environment and
neighbourhood, enabling rehabilitation so to prevent urban decay, maintaining
and restoring buildings so to sustain local characteristics and culture, and
lastly, enhancing and strengthening the socio-economic and environmental fabric
for the benefit of the urban communities.
For the Kwun Tong
Renewal Project, it actually includes both redevelopment and rehabilitation. For
the redevelopment part, it includes the Hang On Street Project which targeted
to be completed by 2021/2022 and also the Kwun Tong Town Centre Project. Apart
from redevelopment work, the Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority also carried out
rehabilitation in Kwun Tong, including the Operation Building Bright, Building
Rehabilitation Loan Scheme and the Rehabilitation Materials Incentive Scheme.
The Kwun Tong
Centre Redevelopment Project is actually the largest scale of urban renewal project
in Hong Kong. It was located in Kowloon East Kwun Tong Town Centre Yue Man
Square. The project was divided into 5 periods of work, with estimated 12-year-completion
time. It is expected to develop as a new business landmark with residential,
tourism(hotel), business, leisure and transportation in all. It will also be
developed as the highest GREEN percentage town area in Hong Kong. This project
is expected to finish as early as in 2021, while the development area 1 has
been finished in 2014. The health centers and clinic are currently in
operation. The Dental Clinic from Department of Health and Kwun Tong Community
Health Centre are both located there. For the development areas 2 and 3, they
have begun the construction work in early 2015. They are expected to be
finished by 2019, where there will be commercial and residential developments,
leisure and recreational amenities and also public transport. For the
development areas 4 and 5, it is all about commercial development. There will
be commercial buildings, hotels and a shopping mall bigger than APM (currently
the largest shopping mall in Kwun Tong district).
In the past, all
the factories are only used as manufacturing use including electronic products,
clothing, print, flour mill, plastics and watches. Some of the electronic
products are mainly sell and export to overseas countries. Plastics industry
was once the major industry in Hong Kong. However, when entering to the 1970s,
there were several reasons which led to the relocation of factories. These
reasons include inflated labour rate, inflated land rate, military factor and
the oil supply problem. Since then, most of the factories were moved to the
Mainland China for cheaper and further development.
After a few years of development, Kwun Tong has changed. For the factories, most of them were closed down nowadays. For the community, old shops were moved or closed. Old apartment houses were demolished and replaced with new private houses. Commercial buildings are entering continually. The whole district is totally different from the one in the past.
There are a few constructions completed at the moment. These constructions included Park Metropolitan, Kwun Tong Community Health Centre, AXA Tower, COS Centre and Paul Y. Centre. Because of the Kwun Tong Town Centre Project, old apartment houses were or will be demolished. At the same time, a private housing building “Park Metropolitan” entered. The Park Metropolitan is a new private housing estate. It was completed in 2014 and it was located on Yuet Wah Street. It looks very luxurious and grand, however, it can only comprise 299 residential units. Park Metropolitan is a private area. Usually, only residents can get in. In the lobby, I can only hear the conversation between two security guards. Compare to old housing estates, its environment is quiet and comfortable.
Before the renewal project, there was a Jockey Club Health Centre in Kwun Tong. Under the redevelopment project, it was now renewed to Kwun Tong Community Health Centre, which it is now bigger and the sanitary environment is better. The Kwun Tong Community Health Centre is a new general out patient clinic. It was completed in 2015 and it was located inside Park Metropolitan. The medical facilities, environment and the workflow were much improved. With the relocation and expansion, Kwun Tong Community Health Centre upgraded their facilities. There is a braille and tactile floor plan of UG/F at the entrance. Also, there is a television in the pharmacy too. People can take advantages from the new equipment.
Kwun Tong Town Project attracted some businessmen operate here. Wile factories moved, commercial buildings entered. The Paul Y. Centre is a Paul Y. Engineering Group Limited’s building. It was located on Hung To Road. Hung To Road is sparsely populated, so is Paul Y. Centre. It is quiet most of the time during my visit. Only when people work off, it will be a bit noisy.
Apart from the Paul Y. Centre, there is also the AXA Tower. It is AXA China Region Insurance Co Ltd’s building. It was located on How Ming Street. The AXA Tower got an excellent environment. It is well decorated. There is a large lobby and a beautiful water pool, which created a quiet, enjoyable and comfortable environment for people.
There is also the COS Centre. There is no anchor tenant and it was completed in 2015. It was located at Tsun Yip Street. COS Centre is one of the latest commercial building in Kwun Tong. There are only a few tenants, so many spaces are empty. It was extremely quiet. It nearly noiseless even when the escalator works or when the door closes.
During my visit to Kwun Tong, I’ve interviewed a young woman who has lived there since she was born. I’ve asked her about her opinion on the redevelopment work and the neighbourhood. She said that there were great differences before and after the redevelopment work. Before this project was launched, she said that the human connection was much closer than nowadays. People always chat with people they meet on street. After the redevelopment, since there are much more “outsiders” coming to the district, the human touch is much weaker than before. However, she agrees that the redevelopment work helped improve the community including the new interim bazaars and the Health Centre. She is looking forward to new shopping malls in the future. However, she also states that the construction work somehow affect the environment during the project. The continuing construction work has worsen the air quality and annoys her every time she walks nearby since there are so much noises.
To conclude, I think the redevelopment work really helps to improve the community by adding in new components into the community. However, I think there should be better ways to preserve the new things as they still have their historical and cultural values in them. For example, I think the new bazaars could be built in a more convenient location so that more people can visit there and the hawkers could have better sales. Apart from these things, I think the most serious problem caused by the redevelopment work is the noise and pollution caused during the construction work. The noise and different kinds of pollution really affected the community a lot and it lowered the living quality of the people living there. I hope this problem could be solved eventually as the project goes on and on.
