HONG KONG PRELIMINARY PLANNING REPORT, 1948.

HONG KONG PRELIMINARY PLANNING REPORT, 1948. PART I. -SCOPE OF THE REPORT. 1. Planning proposals , whether for a whole country , a region , a town or a village are -usuaIly and naturally divided into short and long term: there are -certain obvio-us reforms or reconstructions which should- be put in hand at once and Ïor which a limited fund of money may be made available: these proposals usually take the. Ïorm oÏ actual works to be done and are not concerned with that sort oÏ planning which 耳overns the lines oÏ the natural growth oÏ the community. Thus the Colonial 0咀阱，投贊der the ,() 0 Colon.iaL D理金lupme的& We lÏ are Scheme oÏ 1945 allotted lone million pounds toHong- Kong , wñìcli 兩s.-tõ coverdevelopments prepãred over 正 períod of ten years. 一→?于:一一--.，.....H

2. The present Report , however , was not to be limited in this way, and was intended to cover long term policies as well as short, including the direction to be given to private enterprise in order that its operations may Ïall into some general and agreed Ïorm oÏ planned development. It is usually accepted that 50 years ahead is as far as any plan can be expected tρ正~， and it may be taken that the short term will comprise the 宜rst ~en ye~r8' oÏ. this period: but under a Development Plan the works executed aUl'ÌIfg this 宜rst stage will not be limited to Government and State-aided schemes. It should also be remarked at the outset that the most recent theory oÏ planning does not assume a :final and 宜nite plan passed in all its details as a ‘ Town Planning Scheme ' (as was the case under the 1932 Town Planning Act) , but a plan oÏ 'Development' using the word in its strict sense and allowing Ïor reVlS lOn from time to time in the light oÏ changing requirements and technical accomplishment. 3. This Report is necessarily limited to some general suggestions , an indication oÏ general lines towards the making oÏsuch a De.velopment Plan Ïor the Colony , which may take 2 or 3 years for its completion. But during this time the works proposed under the :fi rst or short term period can go ahead , ~ith the assured feeling that they are the initial stage oÏ a long term policy. The general suggestio~~_hexewith 軍hi.ch.._are based upon prel!~in~rÝ Survey~ - pr~p3:red nb Y, thQ哩旦旦控垣旦旦鎮企e-;-à>nd are "'the results oÏ some weeks' study of the site , many inter空間ws ， and scrutiny of p'!,oposals , mu~t be fully tested by more intensive survey , especially -into Housing Conditions，。咀ce Floor area , lndustrial Location , and Road Tra益c} sample Surveys may be su:fficient for preliminary proposals , but

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5. In comparing Hong Kong with many other places_ two sp~cial characteristics of its -problems at once emerge , neither- of th~m perhaps unique , but each present to a highly intense degreeL且rstly the shorta，~e of laMfor any sort OE 1lrhupanSion or quarter:secondly an unli里ited呵 ，有蛇"計r .Qfp的sib-le - c-Ï盤且喀迪拉個三. _~ combined presence or- these 倆。 ch滔ãètérÍsticsdoes indeed -produce something like a unique result. N ot to waste time on too elaborate comparisons , it may be remarked of the western countries such as England , that if one centre of population becomes too great , it may or should be possible to encourage migration within the land and so reK!:旦旦p the population (this is what is proposed On the one hand land is avairable , on on a regional scale for LondonJ. the other , the population (allowing for statistical increase or the contrary) can be a :rì ticipa-tea. In the case õf a nearer parallel , for example Ceylon., some attempf can be made to regulate the size of the Capital in relation to the rest of the island. But there does not appear 切 be any limit (sic) to the number of people whocould pour into Hong Kong from the mainland and beyond the N ew Territories. Thus ii-has-占魚是n stated that if , on the analogy of the Grea能r London plan , ~~ to~ wereto be built on th主斗imited __suitable lan.d __叫. Kowloon or . on t1i'ë'盲說甘T毒品 1iinited .land- of the N ew Territories , theý would at once be 宜lled up from this unplumbed reservoir on the mainland. The N ew York solution-where space is short , being limited to a peninsula , but where there is plenty of adjacent land available--o f building skyscrapers for business and population as well , does not commend itself for Hong Kong.. The only policy as to numbers appears to be an artificially restricted population and some form of rigid transference from over-crowded areas into new quarters as and when they are prepared to receive them. There must be also a ri宮idly enforced standard of maximum density and imposed limitation uφon industrial expansion. Both these will be di但cult to enforce: the population has become used to densities which , over large areas (not in small black spots) must be some of the highest in the world: industr~_ _!!. f'e~鼠aιilJ'ef時ßJlL耳ong 五Q~ anß. it is hard 切 de'!!y it entr..~~pe. As a recent writer has said ‘ the prosperity of this tiny B訝lsh可高叮 stands out like a beacon. This is mainly' due to t. he fact that the stability of British administration has a宜orded a refuge to commercial interests which have 咀ed from the chaos

PART II.-GENERAL PROPOSALS FOR DEVELOPMENT. 1. THE HARBOUR. 7. One of the first ob .i ects of harbour proposals for town-planning is to obtain more land without impairingthe Port.Sir David Owen's report is here a usefurguidê~ 冊. buìñis--:話局mïiiëñdãtions have not all been followed.

8. The head and sides of Kowloon Bay are straightened , on the west a8 far as Tai Wan , on the east to Cha Kwo Ling , with a boat building yard at Ma Yau Tong. Hung Hom Bay is reclaimed , leaving only a harbour

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(1) A. S. Comyns Carr , K.C. , Times-2Oth July , 1948. Also of course the development Report of 1947.

(2)

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