Open space the Hong Kong way

THE NATURAL VIEWPOINT

At 400-square-miles, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

(SAR, not SARS!) is almost exactly half the size of Orange County’s

800 square miles, but with almost 7-million inhabitants, compared

with our fewer than 3 million.

The Hong Kong government’s plan preserves 40% of the land as open

space and parks. How does Orange County compare? The county Web site

states we have just under 200,000 acres of built land (residential,

commercial, industrial) and 100,000 acres of open space. So we have

33% open space now -- but some of it will be developed in the future.

How can Hong Kong do it? In the 1970s the British created seven

“new towns” to house a burgeoning population of refugees pouring

across the border from China after WWII and increasing in the 1960s

during Mao Tse Tung’s “cultural revolution.”

Their neat and efficient architectural plan was high density

residential structures with plenty of open space around them. The

typical Hong Kong housing development is a small cluster of 30-story

high-rise apartment towers built atop a two-story shopping mall. The

mall roof may hold a green park, swimming pool, exercise course and

playground.

The result is that the towns are an incongruous (to us)

juxtaposition of steep green hillsides with ranks of giant high-rise

buildings spiking up from the flatlands.

The hillsides are truly another world. On walks to two separate

peaks, we encountered lush tropical forest similar to Hawaii’s (same

latitude), alive with water seeps, singing birds and butterflies. The

forests were free of city noise, and well-attended by locals enjoying

the serenity. Think Heisler Park with tropical forest instead of

grass, and much larger: jogging paths, exercise courses, tot lots

with brightly colored play structures and extensive steep, wild

hillsides.

I couldn’t help comparing it to the Orange County pattern: ridges

shaved, hillsides scraped, and the natural vegetation replaced by an

endless blanket of single-family residences and nonnative

landscaping. What would Orange County look like with 7-million

residents in half the space?

In Hong Kong urban parks and walking paths line the river; old men

walk their birds (in cages) and play Go. Gardeners tend the flowers

and shrubs with bamboo rakes and hand tools. No leaf blowers here;

China is not short of labor.

High-density housing in the U.S. is resisted in part because the

neighbors don’t trust that the open space unused for housing will

actually be preserved. In Hong Kong, both high rise and open space

were created by the same plan.

Another problem with high-density development here is traffic

congestion caused by the residents moving between home and work. In

our short time in Hong Kong we observed two methods of dealing with

congestion not common in Orange County. The residents overwhelmingly

use public transportation: commuter trains, subways, trams and the

double-decker buses that constantly patrol the streets. Also,

pedestrian street crossings are limited. In town, traffic is often

unimpeded by pedestrians for blocks. People cross in underground

passages, or overhead walkways that originate and end directly in

malls, hotels and other buildings. And, of course, instead of relying

only on stop lights and intersections that cause traffic backups, the

British constructed roundabouts.

Surprisingly, Hong Kong was missing that mainstay of alternative

transportation, the commuter bicycle. We saw bicycles mostly used for

recreation on scenic paths along the river.

I don’t know what it’s like to live in one of those high-rise

apartments, but the trade-offs are clear: extensive flower-filled

urban open spaces and trails, and great views of steep, lush green

hillsides.

* ELISABETH M. BROWN is a biologist and the president of Laguna

Greenbelt Inc.