By Carine Lai
24 February 2017

In February 2017, Civic Exchange published a report on availability of open space in Hong Kong. To download the report, click on the link above.

Watch Carine Lai’s presentation of the report on 24 February, 2017.

Key Findings

• Residents of urban Hong Kong currently get an average of 2.7-2.8 m²  of open space per person. Hong Kong is behind other Asian cities like Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore, whose residents get 5.8 m² to 7.6 m²
• The current Hong Kong government standard of 2 m² , which has not been updated for 15 years, is too low. That standard gives each resident, on average, open space about the size of a toilet cubicle.
• The government’s proposed increase to 2.5 m², as cited in the 2030+ Plan, is also too low
• Hong Kong’s open space is unevenly distributed, meaning that many residents get less than the 2 m² government standard.
• When Civic Exchange broke the data down into Outline Zoning Plan areas (or, more simply, local neighborhoods), we found that 1.84 million Hong Kongers live in OZPs with less than their promised 2 m² of open space.
• About 3.9 million people, or more than half the urban population, live in OZPs with less than 2.5 m² of open space.
• There is a grey area between public and private “open space.” On top of controversial cases involving malls or residences (like Times Square in Causeway Bay, or Metro Harbour View in Kowloon), there is about four times as much private open space in large residential developments which is inaccessible to the public, but which is still counted towards the 2 m²  standard.
• There is a gap between rich and poor. In high-income areas like The Peak, Kowloon Tong and Discovery Bay, some affluent residents have more than 8m² of open space, as well as access to other green areas. Residents of Mong Kok have just 0.6m²
• Families in the Housing Authority’s public housing estates benefit from a decent amount of open space. The worst off are low-income residents outside the HA system, mostly in standalone buildings, in old and densely-built neighborhoods.
• The elderly are disproportionately affected. This situation is worst in areas like Cheung Sha Wan, Ma Tau Kok, and Causeway Bay.

•  RTHK Instant News- Open space in many areas less than 2 metres: poll (24th February 2017)
• SCMP- More than 1.8 million Hongkongers don’t have enough open space for recreation, local think tank says (24th February 2017)
• RTHK Radio 3- Government should review open space policy  (24th February 2017)
• SCMP- More than 1.8 million Hongkongers don’t have enough open space for recreation, local think tank says (25th February 2017)
• Hong Kong Free Press- Hongkongers enjoy less than half as much open space than citizens of other Asian cities – study (28th February 2017)
• RTHK Radio 3- Public Open Space in Hong Kong (29th February 2017)
• HK01- 港人均休憩空間標準2平方米　面積僅如一廁格　思匯批標準已過時 (24th February 2017)
• HK01- 三成市區人公共空間細過廁格　智庫揭分布三大不均 (24th February 2017)
• HKET- 港人均休憇用地2.7平米 低於東京首爾 (24th February 2017)
• Ming Pao- 研究推算全港20個分區　人均休憩用地低於政府標準　旺角、灣仔最差 (24th February 2017)
• Oriental Daily News- 公共休憩空間分布不均　旺角人均0.6平方米 (24th February 2017)
• MingPao- 184 萬人人均休憩地未及一廁格 旺角最少嶼南最多 (25th February 2017)
• MingPao-逾千頃休憩地未開發 (25th February 2017)
• HKEJ- 港人公共空間小如廁格 (25th February 2017)
• Singtao- 休憩空間「貧富懸殊」 (25th February 2017)
• HKET- 買樓首重交通 公園非最大考慮 (25th February 2017)
• HKET- 商場快餐店 變長者聚腳地 (25th February 2017)
• HKET- 市區欠休憩地 人均空間少於1廁格 (25th February 2017)
• Apple Daily-  商場霸公共空間惹爭議 (25th February 2017)
• Apple Daily- 逾半港人 休憩空間細如廁格 遠遜亞洲大城市 旺角情況最差 (25th February 2017)
• RTHK Radio 1- 思匯研究︰20區「人均休憩用地」低於政府標準 (27th February 2017)
• HK01- 油尖旺冇地方hea？研究指旺角居民只有0.6平方米休憩空間(12th March 2017)
• HK01- 嚴選油尖旺6個「零消費」好hea處！(12th March 2017）
• HKEJ- 港人必學「縮骨功」？ (14th March 2017)
• Wen Wei Po- 人均休憩空間 僅一廁格 (16th Match 2017)
• Oriential- 搜查線：休憩空間分布失衡　旺角長沙灣最少(3rd April 2017)
• HK 01- 西環友成功保留加多近街臨時公園　卻因除污工程再臨拆卸危機？(17th June 2017)

 

Additional materials:

• Open Space Fact Sheets (10 districts)
• Press Conference Powerpoint  (English)
• Press Conference Powerpoint  (Chinese)
• The Chinese-language executive summary 

Download maps from the report