original article everyday life under modernist planning: a ...rethinking and reassessing a...

Original Article

Everyday life under modernist planning: A study of anever-transforming urban area in Hong Kong

Kin Wai Michael Siua,b,* and Yi Hua Huanga

aSchool of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.E-mail: [email protected] of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

*Corresponding author.

Abstract The main objective of this study is to reveal the modernist production of space in relation to theeveryday life of people in Hong Kong. Governments usually consider modernist urban planning to be an activeforce, and assume that this is the only proper means of directing the community towards the ideal of social har-mony. As a result, the everyday life for citizens – ordinary people – in urban regions is embodied within theexperience of a highly organised society. This article highlights the significance of this modernist ideology forurban development of Hong Kong. A case study of a district, Wan Chai, is then adopted to illustrate a tendencytowards specific urban development strategies, in contrast to the diverse urban fabrics that have developed in ahistorical context. A comparative approach is used to examine the southern and northern parts of the district (thatis, Wan Chai North and Wan Chai South). Six dimensions are used to analyse differentiations between modernurban areas and traditional living areas. The results shed light on planning issues that are relevant to everydayspaces.URBAN DESIGN International (2015) 20, 293–309. doi:10.1057/udi.2015.16; published online 16 September 2015

Keywords: everyday life; modernist urban planning; spatial transforming; urban environment

The online version of this article is available Open Access

Introduction

Urban planning, as a process of guiding andcontrolling land use and environmental manage-ment, aims to facilitate the provision of a qualityliving environment. Towards this end, urban plan-ners seek to ensure that a city’s physical, social,economic and environmental developments areboth favourable and sustainable. Since the end ofthe SecondWorld War, Hong Kong has undergonerapid urbanisation and has seen a large increase inimmigrant population. This rapid populationgrowth has put pressure on Hong Kong’sresources, particularly in terms of the demand forland and facilities. In response, government autho-rities have been obliged to implement an increas-ing number of urban planning projects (forexample, land reclamation, new towns, urbanrenewal and Metroplan) to fulfil development

needs. Modernist approaches and rational plan-ning have been privileged throughout these devel-opments, with the latter deemed to be the ‘bestmethod, or process, of doing planning’ (Taylor,1998, p. 66), and an approach that can ‘transforman unwanted present by means of an imaginedfuture’ (Holston, 1998, p. 40). In other parts of theworld, rational planning is being replaced by amore user-oriented planning approach, but urbanplanning in Hong Kong has not kept abreast of thetimes. Many of these criticisms are related tounsatisfactory planning policies, a shortage ofpublic and open spaces and facilities, and urbanareas as overly systematic, formal, restrictive andrepetitive.

Today, as a result of functional segregation inmodernist urban planning and the use of rationaldesign alone, human factors have arguably beenneglected in many major cities. Many modern

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cities have become rational mechanisms that areused to routinise and programme everyday life. Anumber of public spaces no longer belong to thepublic for everyday enjoyment. Many streets havebeen transformed into car parks or efficient trans-portation hubs to meet the demands of heavycirculation. All of these changes have tended todeprive everyday life of authenticity, and con-tinue to be characterised by alienated behaviour(Lefebvre, 1984; Kwok, 1998; Siu, 2007a). Manyurban planners, researchers, and sociologistscriticise modernist planning on the grounds thatcities and societies have become inhuman andalienated as a result: they argue that everydaylife of a modern society has become rationallyorganised and neatly subdivided and pro-grammed to fit a controlled timetable (Sennett,1970, 1990; Lefebvre, 1991; Hsia, 1994; Kwok,1998; Siu, 2001, 2007b). These social issues havetriggered a desire to rethink and reassess themodernist urban planning approach (Siu, 2005).Alternative perspectives have been presented thatprovide insights into the responses and reactions ofusers that are seldom considered by policymakersand governments.

In this article we attempt to review the urbanplanning of Hong Kong in a historical and socialcontext, to determine how urban planning hasbeen used as a method to achieve grandiose devel-opment goals. Then, we adopt an in-depth casestudy on the results of different stages of landreclamation, according to Hillier and Netto (2002),which has potential to shape city spaces in twodistinct modes: ‘the conservative mode restricts co-presence in order to conserve or reproduce culturalpatterns; and the other generates the maximum co-presence in order to optimise the material condi-tions for everyday life’ (p. 182). This study showshow, over time, the coastline of a district, WanChai, of the city has been repeatedly modified byreclamation, and identifies how two distinct plan-ning regimes in one urban area have been gener-ated by a main street in response to physical urbanfabrics and grids. Furthermore, we use intensiveobservations within a comparative framework toreveal some issues of the modernist urban plan-ning approach, and to reflect on the needs andpreferences of city users within the current rapidlytransforming urban environment. Finally, the arti-cle proposes that greater attention be paid to theuser-oriented design method, which would pro-duce an in-depth understanding of how city usersinteract with other users, living environments andfacilities.

A Case Study: Wan Chai

In agreement with Merriam (1988, pp. 2, 10) a casestudy approach has been adopted as ‘an idealdesign for understanding and interpreting obser-vations of social phenomena’, with the under-standing that it is ‘impossible to separate thephenomenon’s variables from their context’.Furthermore, qualitative case study methods andtools have been chosen as being conducive to‘investigating different sites in the ambiguousurban space, such as reclamation area[s]’ (Yin,1993, 1994). Intensive fieldwork was undertakenfrom 2012, with a focus on the everyday practice ofcity users (user reception) in reclamation of theurban area of Hong Kong.

Wan Chai was selected as a case for in-depthstudy. This is an ever-transforming area locatedon the northern shore of Hong Kong Island. Tsoand Ho (2006) have noted that Wan Chai exem-plifies some of the typically controversial debatesregarding people, space, and policy. This is acontested site for the dilemma of urban trans-formation, the preservation of culture and com-munity networks, as well as spatial fragmenta-tion related to social polarisation. Owing to itslong history and traditional cultural characteris-tics, the many historical sites and local commu-nities represent essential social capital. However,a recent development strategy – based on thedesire for Hong Kong to become Asia’s worldcity – has demanded more space, and thishas generated a series of collisions betweenpeople, environment, and policies. The presentphysical configuration is the consequence of con-tinuous reclamation over a century. Currently, amajor road (Gloucester Road) divides Wan ChaiNorth (a modern urban area) and South (a tradi-tional living area). On the surface, urban recla-mations and multimodal living spaces haveconstituted hybrid urbanism for this area(Figures 1(a)–1(c)).

For the present research, a historical approachhas been adopted to highlight the segment-lineurban area using morphological frame that isbased on different stages of land (see also theconcept of city composition and morphology byConzen and Conzen, 2004; Whitehand, 2005). Onthe basis of a field survey of Wan Chai, Table 1delineates urban form features of the plan unitsin terms of its aggregation of streets, plots, andbuildings, and open spaces that distinguishes itfrom surrounding environments. Then, we out-line a comparative model in accordance with

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diverse urban fabrics for assessing modernisturban planning system in a hybrid urban area.This should allow us to identify design issuesthat are relevant to a modernist urban planningapproach in this area.

The data of the study was mainly derivedfrom observations of Wan Chai North and South,with descriptions and photographs. The cap-tured images are used to make sense of theactivities of city users in everyday spaces.Although the study is qualitative in nature, amore quantified six dimensions are used to

analyse differentiations between modern urbanareas and traditional living areas. The analysispresented in the later paragraphs is also basedon these dimensions. The six dimensions are asfollows:

1. the disparity between both buildings and facil-ities in the two areas;

2. the degree of difference between the manage-ment of both areas;

3. patterns of peoples’movement behaviour in thearea;

Figure 1: (a), (b) and (c). Ground plan, building types, and land and building utilisation of Wan Chai with its north–southdemarcation.(Source: the authors).

Everyday life under modernist planning

295© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1357-5317 URBAN DESIGN International Vol. 20, 4, 293–309

4. how city users interact with the urban environ-ments in Wan Chai North and South,respectively;

5. how everyday spaces are used, and who usesthe spaces; and

6. whether or not both urban areas provide peoplewith high-quality social interactions.

Through these observations, the detailed studies ofeveryday life provide a new perspective forrethinking and reassessing a modern/rationalurban planning system, and will prompt furtherresearch design on potential planning processesand methods.

Urban development in Wan Chai

The history of Wan Chai can be traced back to1841, when Hong Kong was a British colony.As such, it was one of the earliest metro urbanareas to be established in Hong Kong. In the earlyyears, Wan Chai was little more than a thin stretchof land inhabited by Chinese villagers and sailors.Residents lived along the coastline in proximity toHung Shing Temple, which is now located onQueen’s Road East. Until World War II, bothBritish and Chinese were accommodated in themost fashionable residential area near the presentSpring Garden Lane. Over time, a number of barsopened along Lockhart Road, characterising thearea as an entertainment centre.

Initially, Wan Chai District was primarily aresidential area rather than a commercial centre.Owing to population growth and limited land, thetraffic jams gradually became a serious concern forsustainable development. After the construction ofthe Mass Transit Railway (MTR), Wan Chai wasconsidered an attractive alternative for ‘economicspace’ in association with the urban development ofHong Kong. Consequently, more land was pro-vided for commercial uses through gradual urbanrenewal and land reclamation. In the 1990s, theremarkable Hong Kong Convention and ExhibitionCenter (HKCEC) was built on Gloucester RoadNorth via this reclamation. The influx of a largenumber of international commercial centres andluxury office buildings converted Wan Chai to ahighly mixed-use urban area. Nowadays, Wan Chaiis part of the Central Business District of HongKong, and as such it has manifested a modernistimage of reclaimed development and presented aparadigm for cosmopolitan urban areas. However,the traditional living area in the south of GloucesterRoad still retains essential heritage characteristics,such as the street markets and itinerant hawkersthat give the area its distinct identity.

Reclamation as urban development

Wan Chai was initially named Ha Wan (下環),which literally means ‘a bottom ring’ (Wordie,2002). This refers to the geographical regions of

Table 1: Features of streets, plots and buildings and open spaces of the plan units in Wan Chai

Plan Units in Wan Chai Reclamationstages

Urban landscapeunits

Streets Plots Buildings and openspaces

Since 1980 HKCEC unit Occupation streets Large-scale plots oninsular typology

Landmark andpolitical spaces

1960–1972 Governmentadministrativeand commercialunit

Mainly regularthrough streets

Mix of large throughplots andirregularlyshaped plots

Modern skyscrapersand corporatespaces

1890–1945 Mixed retail andresidential unit

Through streets inplanned grid

Medium-sized plots Mixture of differenttypes of buildingsand loose streetspaces

1842–1890 Traditional livingunit

Full/part-timepedestrianstreets

Small-sized plots Dilapidatedhousings andlocal banal spaces

Source: the authors.

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Wan Chai, Central, SheungWan and Sai Wan werelocally called ‘the four rings’ (四環). However, theurban configuration of Wan Chai was not theconsequence of systematic planning, but ratherwas formed through reclaimed development in apiecemeal manner.

Historically, the lives of ordinary people in WanChai were based around the Hung Shing Templelocated on Queen’s Road East. With the develop-ment of the shipping industry and with populationgrowth, land demand became a determinant forurban development. To relieve the pressure, thefirst reclamation project planned to provide landoutward from Queen’s Road East. Johnston Road –

where trams presently travel back and forth – wasadded to mark the shoreline in the early twentiethcentury. A further reclaimed project, known asPraya East Reclamation Scheme, had a significanteffect on the urban configuration of Wan Chai.This scheme resulted in the provision of 36 hec-tares of land stretching to Hennessy Road andGloucester Road for more than half a century. Theland was built into small street blocks and three- tofour-storey tenement buildings. In the post-WorldWar II era, economic prosperity that resulted fromglobalisation created a carnival of land reclama-tion. In the 1980s, the government carried out alarge-scale reclamation along the coastline fromGloucester Road, to supply extensive land for thefirst-class high-rise buildings. Meanwhile, theremarkable HKCEC was established in 1988. Thisdevelopment was supported by a consistentincrease in commercial and office land use andcharacterised by a rapid decrease in residentialland use. The modernist planning principle evi-dently guided this area. When reviewing the streetnetwork, for example, the spaces between build-ings became sparse, and the street blocks morelarge and less well defined than in the traditionalcontext.

Today, the urban fabric of Wan Chai exhibits alayout pattern of a ‘segment-line city’, whereintraditional and modernist spatial layouts werejuxtaposed over the period of a century. Thiscontinuous transformation reminds us that thereis a need to study the resultant urban layout, andto reassess the impact of modernist urban planningin relation to ordinary people’s everyday practice.

Everyday Life under Modernist Planning

The review of the literature and field observationsled to the identification of six dimensions of

differences between the modern urban area andthe traditional living area in Wan Chai: buildingsand facilities, management, traffic and pedestrianflow, public activities, pedestrian diversity andsocial capital.

Buildings and facilities

This dimension involves the view, placement andusage of the built environment, as well as elementsinstalled in the public space.

The most obvious distinguishing differencebetween the modern urban area and the traditionalliving area is the built environment. Wan ChaiNorth, like many other modernist cities in theworld, is composed of a number of free-standingsingle buildings, which are characterised by mono-functional as well as cubic shapes, clean lines andunembellished exteriors. Glass curtain wall designis adopted for most buildings in Wan Chai North,which makes the space aesthetically pleasing andclean looking and provides uninterrupted views ofthe skyline. Wan Chai South, by contrast, consistsof compact urban layouts with mixed-use spacesand buildings of various scales. These mostlyinvolve ground floor retail shops and restaurantswith residences, offices and other uses for therooms above. In many cases, some households –

or even one particular household in the building –

will erect advertisement signboards on externalwalls of buildings to help promote their ownbusinesses. These signboards are often as high asthe buildings. Overhanging signboards abound inthe territory and have been identified as a char-acteristic of Hong Kong’s cityscape for a long time.As the external walls of the buildings are commu-nal, the size, numbers and position of signboardsmay be poorly maintained. As a result, some ofthese signboards create visual barriers and chaos inthe street, potentially endangering the safety ofpedestrians (Figures 2 and 3).

The public facilities in Wan Chai North areorderly arranged by a wide variety of public andprivate entities based on the space’s function. Forinstance, a number of benches are scattered atvarious designated recreational areas includingthe waterfront promenade, sports ground, parksand gardens. Some of the public facilities maycontain conditions of use and other restrictions.For example, people are not allowed to sleep or layon benches. Most of the time, people comply withthe instructions, orders and terms of use giventhem by the officers. On the other hand, public



facilities in Wan Chai South are not well plannedor coordinated by the government. Most of themare very old, placed in the wrong position, inade-quate or non-existent. As fewer public facilities(especially recreational ones) are provided, thepublic fulfils their needs in their own ways. Forinstance, railings are designed and used to providesafety on the road, but people may also use themfor sitting or leaning; because of the shortfall ofpublic parking spaces, shop owners will put chairson the road to ‘create’ a parking space outside theshop in order to facilitate loading activity. Insummary, compared with Wan Chai North, peoplein Wan Chai South use the public facilities morearbitrarily, flexibly and freely (Figures 4(a and b), 5(a and b)).

Management

The management dimension of an urban arearefers to both the spatial order and the mechanismsused to control the public use of space. In WanChai North open spaces are often owned andoperated by private entities and managementcompanies. Private sectors have complete rights tomanage the spaces they own. For example, theycan post extensive sets of rules and hire people tofilter who is able to in and out, as well as governthe appropriate use of the space. In fact, even forthe open spaces that are managed by the govern-ment, various restrictions are imposed on thepublic on the use of the space such as limiting theopening hours, requiring authorisation or banningpets. Furthermore, vigilant security officers andenforcement officers enforce the rules stringentlyto keep the area clean, prevent unexpected situa-tions arising and maintain social order and

Figure 2: Each mixed-use building and communal externalwall in Wan Chai South has its own characteristics andpurposes because of the variety of businesses and households.They are not only used for advertising but also serve as a sitefor political and cultural expression.(Source: the authors)

Figure 3: A comparison of traditional (left) and modernist(right) buildings in Wan Chai. The glass curtain wall design ofmodernist building makes it feel mysterious, as the function ofthe building is hidden to pedestrians. By contrast, the externalwall of traditional building shows pedestrians, at a glance, theexact function of the rooms.(Source: the authors)

Figure 4: (a) and (b). Wan Chai North public facilities are well planned and thoughtfully placed for various public needs. The publicis encouraged to use the facilities appropriately. People in Wan Chai South are freer to decide how to use the public facilities to fulfiltheir needs.(Source: the authors)

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stability. Arguably, these rules unduly restrict therights of pedestrians to access and use the spacefreely.

To facilitate management, the government sepa-rates urban areas into various specialised mono-functional zones, and segregates all activities inaccordance with the space’s function. For instance,the area between Convention Avenue and Glouce-ster Road is zoned for commercial and govern-mental use, whereas the area around the GoldenBauhinia Square functions as a focal point fortourists and venue for official events. This zoningapproach contributes to a more clear-cut andorderly urban layout, and as a result the processof management becomes more refined and effi-cient. For example, all demonstrators are requiredto apply for permits and protestors have to enter ina restricted zone, such that the government can

control the spatial environment and public order(Figures 6, 7(a and b)).

Most of the open spaces in Wan Chai South arenot controlled by private developers, but managedby government-public partnership. Althoughthe traditional living area is of a high densitywith a compact urban layout and mixed land use,the demarcation lines between public and privatespaces are ambiguous (Jacobs, 1961; Mandanipour,2003). This situation renders management moredifficult. Thus, in Wan Chai South, a relativelyliberal, flexible and pragmatic manner is used toenforce the legislative requirements (that is, verbaladvice), and the public are allowed to manage thespace by themselves. As a result, the urban spacesand streets in Wan Chai South are often complexand untidy (Figures 8(a and b)).

Traffic and pedestrian flow

This dimension refers to the situations and patternsof people-moving behaviour. In Wan Chai North,the road network is designed to facilitate fast andefficient automobile traffic movements: trafficlanes are wide and straight, at-grade pedestriancrossings are rare, and most developments arelinked by footbridges. Officially, the governmentviews separation of pedestrians from vehicles asthe best measure to provide a pleasant and safeenvironment for pedestrian, as well as ensure anefficient and rapid traffic network.

Vehicle–pedestrian separation has been animportant principle of urban planning in HongKong for a long time. In order to minimise thewaiting time of the motorists and vehicle–pedes-trian conflict, at-grade pedestrian crossings havebeen largely replaced by footbridges or subways.

Figure 5: (a) and (b). This is a comparison of formal parking space in Wan Chai North and a parking space that has been created by ashop owner in Wan Chai South. Most of the time, the shop owners use their own objects to reserve a parking space. But in somecases, public facilities, like traffic cones, are ‘borrowed’ by them to occupy a temporal parking space.(Source: the authors)

Figure 6: There are clear demarcation lines between public andprivate space in Wan Chai North. These contribute to a cleanand orderly streetscape and spatial order. In the figure, asecurity controls the entering of a building.(Source: the authors)



Hence, the footbridge network in Northern WanChai has been well developed: from Wan ChaiFerry Pier to Southorn Garden (Wan Chai MTRstation) and from Fenwick Street to TonnochyRoad, pedestrians can cross these areas withoutgetting on the street. Because the footbridge land-ings are fixed, the walking route and direction ofpedestrians have been formulated and restricted ina set way. In peak hours, the pedestrian traffic onfootbridges moves in columns and everyone mustmove at the speed dictated by the pedestrianstream (Figures 9(a and b) and 10).

By contrast, Wan Chai South evidences a rela-tively slow traffic and pedestrian movement as theroads are shared by all users – including motorists,pedestrians and cyclists – at the same level andtime. In Wan Chai South, pedestrian flow is notgoverned by fixed or planned routes. People crossthe street freely, anywhere and anytime as if therewere no vehicles on the road. Motorists andcyclists exercise patience and decrease their speedvoluntarily at places where people converge. By

combining commercial, residential, retail spacesand restaurants, the mixed-use Wan Chai Southarea offers more choices for people to fulfil theirneeds within the same urban area, and thisdecreases their reliance on long distance travel(Figure 11).

Public activities

This dimension refers to how a public space isused, and to the activities that are available in thespace.

Public activities support social, cultural andpolitical expression, as well as bringing economicbenefit to the people and society. Gehl (1987)divided activities into three categories: necessaryactivities (such as walking), optional activities andsocial activities.

During the observations, there were obviousdifferences between the activities of Wan ChaiNorth and South. For the former, necessary

Figure 7: Some rules (a) and a public activity area (b) are set up to ensure to secure ideal social order and discipline.(Source: the authors)

Figure 8: (a) and (b). Because of the authorities’ overly lax enforcement, many stall owners intentionally encroach upon the publicspace in order to expand the areas that they can use. Some people may occupy a space in the public sphere for their own use.However, those goods owners restore the street and surrounding area to its original cleanliness after they have finished their work.(Source: the authors)

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activities were always seen on streets and foot-bridges, but few optional or social activitiesoccurred, as such activities are restricted throughvarious rules and management decisions. For thelatter, optional and social activities would occurspontaneously in streets, parks, and other recrea-tion spots at any time.

Wan Chai North is divided into separate areasfor various activities. As a result, the types ofactivities were limited and tended towards a uni-tary mode. For instance, tourist activities havebeen zoned and regulated in Golden BauhiniaSquare, such that photo taking and patronisinglicensed hawkers are the only activities that thetourists are able to do in that place.

Also, in Wan Chai North many mega events orformal events are organised by the government:especially in the areas around the Hong Kong

Convention and Exhibition Centre. The overt pre-sence of crowd management tools (such as physi-cal barriers) in public places gives the message thatthe government has the ability – and the absoluteright – to manage these places to facilitate theseevents (Figures 12 and 13).

In traditional living areas like Wan Chai South,streets serve as public spaces. They are spaces forpeople to meet, interact and connect. They areowned by the community, and managed by allpeople. Various kinds of public activities can befound on Wan Chai South’s streets, depending onthe context of place and time. In the Johnston Road,near MTR station and places of work, public activ-ities will generally be conducted for business rea-sons; in the traditional street market areas, such asTai Yuen Street, public activities can be quitecomprehensive such as buying and selling, chatting,

Figure 9: As the majority of Wan Chai North space is planned for office and commercial uses, people have to walk or drive longdistances to fulfil their needs (such as dining or shopping). The two figures show that pedestrian flow will rapidly increase frompeople coming to the working places in the morning (a: from South to North) and going to retail shops and restaurants during lunchhours (b: from North to South).(Source: the authors)

Figure 10: Sometimes the administration or private entities usemetal fences to guide and direct pedestrians.(Source: the authors)

Figure 11: Without footbridges or subways, in Wan Chai Southstreet space is shared by motorists, pedestrians and cyclists alike.(Source: the authors)



discussing, playing chess and even sleeping. Gehl(1987) suggested that these optional and socialactivities occur because the absence of an explicitcontrols presence (Figures 14, 15(a and b)).

Pedestrian diversity

This dimension refers to the people who use thespace. There is growing interest in incorporating

pedestrian diversity analysis into the urban plan-ning. This involves extending focus from the quan-titative indicators (that is, pedestrian flow andwalking speed) to include the qualitative indica-tors that can help to make a pleasing urbanenvironment. Public activities are largely depen-dent on the planning approach and managementof the urban space. Zoning and mixed land use notonly affect how spaces are used, but also the typeof people who use this space.

Owing to the segregation of land use and activ-ity in Wan Chai North, each zone usually onlyattracts people with homogeneous backgrounds,classes, needs and similar behaviours. On the sur-face, all people have the right to access or use thespace, however the functional zoning approachand overmanagement that is identified above,encourages the segregation of people of differentbackgrounds and exclusion of certain undesirableusers (Burgess, 1994; Maantay, 2002).

Our observations for this study illustrate thatWan Chai North has a remarkably low level ofpedestrian diversity. During our fieldwork weobserved that people wearing shirts, suits and tiesmade up the majority of pedestrians in Wan ChaiNorth: especially the footbridges along GloucesterRoad and its nearby vicinity, as these areas func-tion as the centre and rendezvous of economicactivity. Likewise, over 90 per cent of visitors inGolden Bauhinia Square were tourists, as the spacewas designed to attract tourism (Figure 16).

In contrast, Wan Chai South is composed of anumber of different types of buildings (residential,commercial, storage and service), shops and

Figure 12: Tourist activities have been zoned and regulated inspecific areas. Only permitted hawkers are allowed to dobusiness there. The trading areas and types of commoditieshave been controlled by the administration: only painting andphotographing are approved for commercial trading.(Source: the authors)

Figure 13: The flag-raising ceremony includes a party of HongKong police officers, accompanied by a rifle unit all inceremonial dress. The national anthem is played by the policeband, followed by a 10-min musical performance by the policepipe band. During this special event, the governmentadministrators temporarily convert the open space intofunctional venue, exerting some of the barriers formanagement purposes.(Source: the authors)

Figure 14: Although unauthorised street hawking activities arenot allowed in Wan Chai South, the administration adopts alenient policy and flexibility in taking enforcement actions,such that the hawkers are verbally warned to disperse.(Source: the authors)

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market stores, restaurants and recreational venues.In addition to attracting various on-street activities(like street performances and hawking) Wan ChaiSouth attracts a diverse cross-section of people,including both neighbourhood residents and visi-tors from outside the district. Our observation ofthe pedestrian diversity in Wan Chai South indi-cated that the elderly are more likely to stay hererather than in the new and clean recreationalvenues in North. The explanation is that the foot-bridge system is not convenient or accessible forthem. Long footbridge ramps, stairs and lifts arephysical and psychological barriers when enteringthe north, and further decrease its pedestriandiversity.

Social capital

Social capital refers to the quantity and quality ofsocial interactions and relationships in a commu-nity. The interplay between social capital andurban planning is a comprehensive topic. Gener-ally, social capital is a concept that describes thesocial contacts both between groups and withingroups. A high level of social capital is associatedwith strong social networks and social relation-ships and feelings of trust and civic engagement.Social capital influences the collective action, socialsolidarity and inclusion of an area (Putnam, 1993;Leyden, 2003).

In this study, we found that levels of socialcapital tend to be significantly higher in Wan ChaiSouth than North. This can be reflected by morespontaneous social activities and collective actionsin Wan Chai South. The availability of space forsocial activities is important for developing socialcommunity as well as social capital in an urbanarea. As residents have greater opportunities toparticipate in different types of social and informalinteractions, social networks, cohesion and solidar-ity are easily created among them. During theobservation, planned and spontaneous meetingsand casual conversations with acquaintances wereoften found in many places around the open-airbazaars. This shows that the community is wellnetworked. Furthermore, the community formedconcern groups such as ‘Street Market Concern’(discussed below) to take action to protect collec-tive interests and the environment (Figure 17(a and b)).

In modernist cities, zoning not only divides theinterdependent functions of a city into fragments,but also undermines the ‘potential for integratedneighbourhoods and local social capital’ (Barton,

Figure 15: (a) and (b). Activities on the street in Wan Chai South include having meals and sleeping. As demarcation of public andprivate space in Wan Chai South is ambiguous, workers and stall owners see the area around their workplace as available for theirown use.(Source: the authors)

Figure 16: Mono-functional space tends to attract same types ofpeople, likewise public facilities and activities organised by thegovernment also only attract certain people. In GoldenBauhinia Square, all parking spaces are labelled for coaches,and leave no room for small cars. Only tourism-relatedproducts or services (that is, painting and photographing) areapproved for sale in that place. Such measures have restrictedthe function and publicness of space.(Source: the authors)



2005). The separation of land into zoned mono-functional does not take the psychological andsocial aspects of the space into consideration.When people spend considerable time in trafficand at workplace but not in their residential com-munity, they do not have a sense of belongingnecessary to engage and to contribute to the civicsociety. Most people are merely sojourners in WanChai North that is a workplace but not a place fordeveloping social networks. Although the plannersprovided spaces (parks and gardens) for people tostay in the area, no social activity occurs in thesespaces. Furthermore, the lack of social activityactually leads to low social capital.

Reflections and Discussions

Figure 18 provides a visual representation of thedifference between the traditional living area (longdash line) and modern urban area (solid line), withratings for each of the dimensions outlined above.The closer the point is to the centre of the chart, thepoorer it is for that dimension.

In Wan Chai North, uniform mono-functionalbuildings and public facilities are well located,carefully maintained, efficiently managed andfunctionally appropriated to meet the publicneeds. Most buildings are privately owned andhighly managed by the government or privatesector. Owing to the proactive management andmaintenance practices, the space often feels orga-nised, and looks ordered, structured and con-trolled. There is conspicuous demarcationbetween the private and public space, and variousrestrictions and monitoring are imposed upon the

public on the use of the space. Also, strict enforce-ment actions are taken to manage behaviours.

A vehicle–pedestrian separation principle andfootbridge system has been adopted in Wan ChaiNorth. Pedestrian routes have been set up withinthe footbridges. The average speed and volume oftraffic and pedestrian flow is high, especially dur-ing the peak hours of the mornings, lunch hoursand evenings. Nevertheless, the level of pedestriandiversity was observed to be low, because eachzone had a specific function that attracted only asingle type of pedestrian user.

Activities in Wan Chai North are segregated intomono-functional zones. Hence, our observations ofthe streets showed a great deal of necessary activ-ities, but rarely found optional and social activities.

Figure 17: The wide range of social and informal activities contributes to the social capital. In Wan Chai South, residents spend timein communication activities in or alongside the access roads (a). Tai Yuen Street in Wan Chai is a street market, residential area andpublic space, and it attracts local and foreign visitors with diverse backgrounds for wandering and chatting there (b). These help tomaintain a positive and united relationship between residents and the place.(Source: the authors)

Figure 18: Comparative profile of Wan Chai North and WanChai South, using six dimensions.(Source: the authors)

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On the one hand, overmanagement and zoningrestricted the types of public activities that couldoccur, and therefore many people performed simi-lar activities within the same venue. On the otherhand, a range of governmental and formal activ-ities were routinely organised in Wan Chai North.

The spaces in Wan Chai North – both streets andopen spaces – do little to serve as public spaces forcommunity interactions. They provide a circula-tion route without any social meaning, and thus,Wan Chai North cannot easily build social capital.

Wan Chai South had several varieties of mixed-use buildings. Uses included housing, commerceand services. Many types of people were observedusing public facilities in non-traditional ways tofulfil their needs. In addition, the demarcationbetween private and public was ambiguous. Therelatively liberal and generous managementapproaches have meant that the urban area issomewhat disorganised and cluttered.

We observed that the speed of traffic and pedes-trian flow in Wan Chai South was relatively slowbecause roads are shared by people on foot, onbikes and in vehicles. The volume of pedestrianflow was generally stable but particularly busy inthe street marketplace. Moreover, a high degree ofpedestrian diversity can be observed in the urbanarea. We found many women, children and elderlyresidents on the street, participating in differentactivities.

Streets have long been important public spacesin Wan Chai South. They support activities that arespontaneous and simple in nature, and do notrequire official sanction or organisation. As thereare opportunities for residents to communicateand interact, a high level of social capital wasidentified from the strong social networks andcivic associations in the community.

Modernist planning exerts greater managementcontrol

In Wan Chai, the government tends to attain ahigher level of order, both physical (spatial) andsocial, in the modern urban area than the tradi-tional living area. The top-down approach focuseson state control, with the understanding thatcommon urban problems such as street clutter,illegal parking, informal street trading and proces-sion, can be solved by stringent managementcontrols.

The components of stringent management con-trol are as follows: planning and zoning public

activities; outsourcing of the management work ofspaces to the private developers, enterprises andmanagement agencies; posting extensive sets ofregulations to govern appropriate use; and proac-tive monitoring and strict enforcing of the rules.These measurements and practices, both controlthe users of the space, and at the same time excludeundesirable people.

Stringent management controls are also adoptedby the private sector. In Wan Chai North openspaces are often owned and operated by privateentities and management companies. Private sec-tors have complete right and freedom of manage-ment of the spaces they own. Cleanliness andordered appearance is usually important to them,as this promotes a positive corporate image. Forthis reason, owners often post extensive sets ofrules and hire people to govern appropriate use ofthe space. As a result, few spontaneous socialactivities occurred in privately-owned publicspaces.

Stringent management control also has politicalimplications in regard to the public order anddemonstrations. The findings illustrate that thepotential for demonstrations in the modernisturban area was a concern for the administration.First, all demonstrations were required to apply forpermits. Second, protesters (or people whoresembled protesters) and their movement werezoned, controlled and even driven out by force. Forinstance, on 1 October 2012, several black-shirtedcitizens were hauled away minutes before aNational Day flag-raising ceremony at the GoldenBauhinia Square. An official spokesman stated thatthese official actions were based on the ‘code ofceremony’, and were to prevent disruption ofpublic events. However, in fact, there was ambi-guity in respect to the code of ceremony: includingits legal authority and definition of ‘prevention’, asthose black-shirted citizens did not shout out anyslogans or display any unacceptable behaviourbefore security guards led them away.

Walking and living under effectiveness-ledplanning

In general, Wan Chai North has a great deal ofpedestrian and vehicular traffic, but these bothmove quickly such that street spaces have a ‘life-less’ quality. On the other hand, pedestrians inWan Chai South are likely to move slowly andspend more time on social activities, which pre-sents a more lively and dynamic streetscape. Gehl



(2010, p. 120) noted that ‘walking is a form oftransport, but it is also a potential beginning or anoccasion for many other activities’. He suggestedthat walking tempo has a significant effect on thelevel of on-street activity and urban space life: ifpeople walk slowly on the street, they have morechances to closely survey their surroundings, tomeet and communicate with others, to understandthe place, or to initiate or participate in anyactivities. The following focuses on how planningideology influences the quantity as well as qualityof walking, and the influence of this on life inurban spaces.

Naturally, the nature of street spaces is animportant factor influencing people’s movementbehaviour. When streets are designed for trafficmovement, they become less attractive and unin-viting to people. Wan Chai North’s road planning,like many other cities in the world, is based onautomobile-oriented planning approach suggestedby modernist urban planners Le Corbusier andFrank Lloyd Wright. In their view, as the zoningapproach divides the city into separate functionalzones, to effectively connect each separate space afast, dense and efficient transportation system isabsolutely necessary. As the pedestrian networksin Wan Chai North became more complex andindirect, the crossing of roads also became moredifficult and inconvenient. Pedestrians now haveto use a circuitous route for crossing the roads orgetting to the footbridges to reach other areas.At the same time, streets and footbridges havebecome specialised in their function, as conduitsfor traffic instead of public spaces. For the moder-nists, activities like busking, small trading or evenstaying on the streets or footbridges may be seen asan obstacle to the speedy and continuous pedes-trian stream, especially during peak hours.

Indeed, the problem of the policy of segregationnot only considers the physical aspects of routeplanning, but also the neglect of the psychologicalquality of pedestrian walkways (Sauter andHuettenmoser, 2008). More and more, urban plan-ners have come to realise that the measurement ofthe ‘perceived distance’ is as important as the‘physical distance’ in street planning and design.Physical distance, according to Gogel et al (1963),can be defined as ‘the distance from the eye to theobject’, and perceived distance as ‘the observer’sperception of the distance of the object’. The streetspaces in Wan Chai North are safe, wide and well-maintained, when compared with those in theolder urban area of Wan Chai South; on the otherhand, the streetscape is dominated by motorised

traffic, office buildings, long closed walls, andboring facades. These unattractive ‘hard edges’(Gehl, 2010) make pedestrians unconsciously thinkthe street is long, and they are encouraged to walkfaster with greater step length, or inclined to usethe underground tunnels or elevated footbridges,even if it is inconvenient.

To make a streetscape attractive, physical plan-ning (such as well-designed and thoughtfullyplaced street furniture) is important; but moreimportant is the stimulation of active facades,activities and people. Wan Chai South is composedof mixed-use buildings with the street leveldevoted to commercial uses, which means pedes-trians can see different shops and activities whenwalking along streets. The display windows,signage, building entrances, outdoor restaurantseating, hawkers and kiosks encourage pedestriansto slow down or even stop. In some areas ofWan Chai South’s area such as Cross Street andTai Yuen Street, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorvehicles share a common street space, and theydo not move fast. Shared street spaces can beseen as a public outdoor room for the use of thegeneral public, which make an urban area liveableand vibrant (Hamilton-Baillie, 2008). Certainly,in a shared space, all road users slow their speedand pay more attention to the surroundingarea as well as people rather than just keepingmoving, and such ‘psychological traffic calming’(Kennedy et al, 2005) can help to prevent seriousaccidents. Furthermore, free-flowing movementmeans pedestrians can change direction, speed upor slow down, or stay on the street for the socialactivities or other reasons. Street spaces in tradi-tional living area are multifunctional and open fora wide range of activities, such that walking is onlyone of the moving activities. In the absence ofdesignated walking route people can walk freelyand naturally and enjoy street life (Figures 19(a and b)).

Disappearance of community

The preceding sections have discussed issuesrelated to behaviour. The section that followsdiscusses the impact of land-use zoning – the coreidea of modernist urban planning – influence onthe development of urban community.

The concept of community is associated withmany circumstances and has many dimensions.Generally speaking, community can be defined as‘a group of people who live in a local area and who

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therefore have certain interests and problems incommon’ (Hunt and Colander, 1996, p. 129). Inrecent years, many researchers have adopted Put-nam’s idea of social capital as a framework forunderstanding and building strong communitiesin an urban area. Putnam (2000) defined socialcapital as ‘grease that allows the community wheelto advance smoothly’. He embraced the notions ofcivic engagement, sense of belonging, trust andcommunity cohesion.

The findings of this study show that a strongcommunity and high degree of social capital existin the Wan Chai South, as there are a great numberof residential and commercial buildings, schoolsand parks, restaurants and shops and historicopen-air bazaars, with plenty of opportunities tointeract and become involved in social activities forpeople with different backgrounds. In such mixedland-use area, no one is isolated or recognised asan outsider. Therefore, it is widely believed thatprovision of services is essential to communitycohesion (Kwok, 1998; Holdsworth and Hartman,2009).

The community in Wan Chai South did notdevelop based on official plans or blueprints.Rather, it was built by the people who used thespace and was expanded over many years. Forexample, the open-air bazaars in Wan Chai weretransformed from informal street trading activitiesin Tai Yuen Street, Cross Street and Wan Chai roadthat began in the 1920s. The streets were not builtfor commercial purposes, but people utilised themfor trading, assembling and interacting withothers. In this way, a community was graduallyformed, consisting of nearby residents and shopowners. Furthermore, although the space is sharedby the community, the members obtain a sense ofbelonging and close relationship with the space

from ‘the sharing of interests and activities’ andalso the ‘shared history’ (Scott Swain, cited inCollamer, 1999). Therefore, residents in the com-munity will take collective action (such as assem-bly and procession) to maintain or protect their‘sharing of interests and history’. Putnam (1993)described such collective action as ‘civic engage-ment’, and noted that this requires a high level ofsense of belonging, common goals, and healthysocial networks. For instance, when the govern-ment put forth a plan to relocate all open-airbazaars’ hawker pitches and shops into the newindoor market complex in 2006, residents, indivi-dual hawkers and others united together andformed a group called ‘Street Market Concern’.They argued against the plan, saying that it woulddestroy local identity, history and culture, disruptthe social network of occupants and adverselyaffect the local economy.

Zoning is a planning approach that divides thecity arbitrary into separate functional zones for thepurpose of regulating land use and development,and it affects the growth and development ofurban community (Kwok, 1998; Siu, 2001). Thismono-functional zoning system separates homefrom school, shopping, work and other activities,leading to the decline in sense of community.Alexander et al (1977) indicated that the separationof home and workplace ‘reinforces the idea thatwork is a toil, while only family life is living’. Greatdistances between different zones force people tospend substantial amounts of time travelling, andthis further reduces their participation in outdooractivities, as well as their involvement in the urbancommunity. In addition, when spaces are occupiedby private developers, people have little motiva-tion to develop social networks or a sense ofcommunity (Kwok, 1998).

Figure 19: Perceived distance: a horizontal facade (a) makes walking distances seem longer and boring; streets with vertical facades(b) makes distances seem shorter and more fun.(Source: the authors)



Cultural and social diversity are widely under-stood to be important components in developingsocial capital. A noticeable effect of the zoningapproach was the creation of spatial and socialexclusion. Through physical separation of differentland uses into zones, the urban areas have been re-configured as disjointed fragments, creating anumber of urban islands that were both sur-rounded and linked by bridges, tunnels, express-ways and bypasses. With mono-functionalplanning, those urban islands only invite certaintypes of people. They limit social encounters andthus generate strong physical and social segrega-tion (Rio, 2004).

Conclusion

This study examined the daily behaviour of cityusers in two areas where the environment wasdifferently planned and managed. Our aim was todetermine the difference between a modern urbanarea and a traditional living area. On the basis ofan empirical investigation in Wan Chai, we identi-fied six dimensions of difference between themodern urban area and the traditional living area:the built environment and facilities, managementissues, traffic and pedestrian flow, public activities,pedestrian diversity and social capital. The resultssuggest that the rational top-down approach toplanning lacked consideration of the psychologicaland social aspects of space. Conversely, the tradi-tional living area – the place that we recognised asunplanned – has long been an important publicspace for city users, and contributes to the vitalityof the city and the sense of community. It wasprecisely the high density living offered by thecompression of population, space and humanexperience, which transgressed any rationalresponse to the public living environment in timeand in function so as to build the interactionsbetween plans/designs and practices, even thoughcrucial urban issues are identified such as densityand crowding.

From this study we can identify three key points.First, the stringent management control that waswidely implemented in the modernist urban area,to ensure the efficiency, functionality and order ofspace, made the space less public and more ‘soul-less’. Second, traffic planning, streets patterns andthe design of the streetscape influenced pedestrianwalking behaviour and experience, as well as thequality of life in urban spaces. Effectiveness-ledplanning segregated pedestrians. Although this

focused on safety and fast movement, it neglectedthe psychological qualities inherent to walking, aswell as the social function of walkways. Third, thatmodernist planning completely failed to developurban community in the urban area. Land-usezoning created a spatially and socially segmentedcity, as most people had to use a great part of theirtime commuting to and from work, or moving toschool or market every day. As a result, theopportunity for people to interact and have closecontact was reduced, and no community wasformed. In short, modernist planning neglects realsituations and human factors. The ‘ideal urbanplan’ formulated by one social group of expertswill exclude the various desires and needs of othersocial groups.

From our examination of modernist planning,we can identify if the notion of modernist planningproduces the best urban environment. Indeed, themodernist approach has proved resistant to changeover the years, and more and more planners ask todevelop new approaches to urban planning. Thecase study of the Wan Chai South suggests thattraditional approaches are not out-dated, and con-tain human factors that modernist approacheshave ignored. In addition, high density as a func-tion of urban life has provided more positivebenefits to extend immediate experience of placeboth qualitatively and quantitatively. In sum,when undertaking urban development projects,the government must look carefully at all thecomponents including the physical, psychologicaland social aspects, which constitute effective urbanplanning.

Acknowledgements

All field observation photos were captured bythe authors. The authors would like to acknowl-edge the Hong Kong Research Grants Council’sGeneral Research Grant (RGC Ref: 548310) forthe support of the study and the preparationof this article. They thank the School of Design ofThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University forthe support with carrying out this research.The Department of Architecture of MIT hasgiven visiting scholarship support to the corres-ponding author during the final preparation of thearticle. They also sincerely thank the editorand reviewers of the Urban Design International fortheir valuable suggestions for the revision of thearticle.

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