Month: March 2019

“You can leave Hong Kong, but it will never leave you.” 
― Nury Vittachi, Hong Kong: The City of Dreams

Walking Tour – Shek Kip Mei – First Public Housing Hong Kong

Hong Kong Baptist University – Seminar

Walking Tour History of Hong Kong Shopping Malls

Walking Tour – Hong Kong History of Suburban Development 

Public Transit – Hong Kong (Accessible, Clean, & Efficient)

Bus to the Ferry:  Front row seat

Hong Kong & East Asia Pacific Regional Travel

When visiting Hong Kong over 10 years ago, I was immediately struck by the number of skyscrapers and high density buildings punctuating the skyline and the seamless and efficient integration of  mass transit into urban life. My recent return I was able to take a deeper dive in understanding the urban planning footprint. There are no urban settlements or indigenous architecture remaining in Hong Kong. Dr. Lachlan Barber, Associate Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), was instrumental in organizing a seminar on behalf of my research and was also able to organize walking tours so I could get a quick and clear understanding of the spatial and cultural history of Hong Kong. My first visit to Hong Kong was as a tourist; this visit was as a researcher. Hong Kong’s approach to affordable housing was what I found most fascinating.  Almost 50% of the residents in Hong Kong live in public/subsidized housing. The statistic was so startling, I wanted to understand it in comparison to Taipei and New York where affordable housing occupants are less than 1% and less than 5% of the populations. Hong Kong’s approach toward affordable housing is not perfect, but just judging by usage numbers alone, their approach is much more progressive than both Taipei and New York. Look closer for a deeper dive.

Affordable Housing Stats: Hong Kong : New York : Taipei

                                      AH Residents                  % of Occupants                    % of AH Stock

Hong Kong                 3.3 million                             48.8%                                          44.7%

New York                    421,400                                    4.9%                                            8.2%

Taipei                             18,360                                      .68%                                           .6%

 

Taipei, Hong Kong, and New York are listed among the top 20 most expensive cities for housing in the world and each city has issues, of varying degrees with affordable housing. As the price of real estate continues to escalate, the need for affordable housing increases. Each city has a different response to providing affordable housing. While there are different degrees, that the issue is prices continue to increase more rapidly than incomes, and the supply of affordable housing can not keep up with demand.

Hong Kong

When many people from Mainland China migrated to Hong Kong in the 20’s and 30’s to escape Japanese occupation; the city received a population influx.  Post World War I, the country was in a recession and couldn’t build housing needed to accommodate the new residents. New residents occupied space informally by building informal settlements.  These settlements resulted in a massive fire, which led to the first government built affordable housing in 1953. Ship Kap Mei is now a museum/hostel that you can easily access throughout the city. Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) has created evolving . Now, the housing is built by the government and the average wait time for public housing is 6-10 years.  The majority of buildings are located in the new territories and are included in the high density look and feel of the city. While of the cities listed, it has the highest percentage of stock and population participation, it still requires a significant time to access. While rented space is somewhat accessible, there has also been little progress made in providing affordable access to home ownership

New York

A brief history of NY public housing funds its origins in 1934 with the establishment of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). At the end of 1935, NYCHA dedicated its first development, called First Houses, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Robert Moses famously had the goal to clear all urban tenements and promoted high density residential buildings.The majority of NYCHA developments were built between 1945 and 1965. Unlike most American cities, New York, the largest public housing system in the US, depended heavily on city and state funds to build its housing, rather than the federal government. This has created issues. With most recent reports in the last year, NYCHA, responsible for 176,000 apartments in 2418 buildings, continue to struggle with maintenance issues. NYCHA public housing  is in crises. The buildings are struggling with basic maintenance – lead-paint hazards, mold, heating failures and and chronic mismanagement. Is this an issue of mis-management or a lack of funding?  I’m not sure, but it is hard to conceive that in New York; we have failed to get this right. Now, we have occupants living in conditions that are unfit for occupation.

Taipei

Because of Taiwan’s various occupations, it’s development of affordable housing policy has been delayed. Currently, Taipei has 6000 public housing units and only .068% of the population occupying these units. While New York and Hong Kong were creating affordable housing policies, Taiwan was recovering from Japanese colonial rule and adjusting to KMT occupation and martial law.  The urban planning of Taipei was largely neglected during this period since Taiwan was ruled under martial law from 1949-1986. During KMT this time very little attention was paid to planning initiatives and most investment went toward military investment. The plan was to build a strong military to return to China to take over the communist party. This is largely a result of the resource distribution during KMT rule. The military settlements that were created in the 1950’s and 1960’s (two of which I’m researching Toad Mountain & Treasure Hill) are included in the public/subsidized housing that was created in the history of Taipei.  These were largely created because of the population influx of 1.5 million people as a result of the Civil War in China. In 1975, Taiwan published a “Public Housing Act”, but it largely was not executed because lack of skilled labor to construct new buildings, difficulty in acquiring land, and overall lack of organization. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was established in 1986 and the current President, President Tsai, has established initiatives for affordable housing.

Hong Kong Public Housing adjacent to market rate housing

New Developments (displacement issues)

Biking not encouraged  

 

New Places with My Favorite Girls

I should have known, when LaToya shared her longing to return to indigenous settlement research, that within a year she would be on the other side of the world with a Fulbright Fellowship, Leila in tow, and us celebrating my 1st Chinese New Year in Asia .

The reality of my vacation was so much more than I could’ve imagined, Taipei, Taiwan – their adopted home; Hanoi, Vietnam – cultural excursions; and Palawan, Philippines – sun, sand, and cocktails.

I was in awe of their adjustment to Taipei in less than 6 months, Leila is celebrated among her Taiwanese classmates, LaToya’s comprehension and careful pronunciation of Mandarin, and their mastery of trash collection(see earlier blog post).  Best of all was experiencing their favorite places, restaurants with yummy dumplings and noodles, sights that offer majestic views of the city, their “central park”, and night market with the stinky tofu.

 

 

On to our Girls Trip…. Hanoi, Vietnam. Our boutique hotel was in the heart of the city with a balcony overlooking the crowded streets. We explored those streets by bus, on foot, and even cycle rickshaw to visit museums, temples (including Confucius), Hoa Lo Prison – “Hanoi Hilton” during Vietnam War, and oh can’t forget the water puppet show. We enjoyed scenic excursions down rivers, up mountains, and through caves. And our inner foodies loved every meal, snack, and morsel.  Our visit ended with a magical send off, we arrived at the airport at the stroke of midnight for Chinese New Year.  No, we didn’t lose a glass slipper, but there  were plenty of fireworks.

Next stop, Palawan, Philippines to a private resort island.  Although the villas were sold out for Chinese New Year, we had infinity pools and beaches to ourselves every day until sunset.  We literally wore our swimsuits to breakfast because our entire days were spent in sun, sand, and water, with occasional breaks for refreshing cocktails from our favorite bartender. Leila’s fav was the Palawan Sunset.

 

As I scroll through the many pictures that will never be posted on social media, I must say, this is my fav pic of the trip.

Of course there’s a story behind it.  I was lounging pool side while watching Leila enjoy having the pool all to herself.  She gets out of the pool with a serious look on her face. I figured she was focused on getting a towel to dry herself. Instead, she climbed on me, while dripping wet, and we both burst out laughing. Throughout this trip, the three of us explored, learned, relaxed, and most of all laughed.

A recent study concluded that going to new places with your favorite girls extends your life expectancy.  Please drop me a line if you know a doctor that writes Girls Trip prescriptions.