Theme Title Density 2.0
Exhibition Title City Smarts – Density 2.0
Exhibition Venue H6 CONET, 99 Queen’s Road Central, Central

Curatorial Statement:

The city center of Hong Kong has the breath-taking high density, whilst its rural area has the vast and beautiful mountain and green land. Perhaps because of the extremely sophisticated topography here which does not provide any tabula rasa for the nurturing of a highly homogeneous and quantitative urban planning approach, the distribution of urban programs and density in Hong Kong is highly uneven. This unevenness indeed brings great vibrancy and possibility to the city. Every day we can use the convenient public transport to access and use various city facilities within the shortest time, while in the weekends we can escape from the city center and enjoy the world-class country park and natural reserve.

However, we have to rethink the density of Hong Kong because we are facing an imminent problem – the shortage of housing supply. On one hand the old city districts are already saturated, would it be even possible to further increase density during the urban renewal process? On the other hand if we search for land in the low density rural area, how could we protect the natural environment and how could we balance the benefits of various stakeholders?  Moreover, housing shortage is not only an imminent issue, but also a long-term one. When we rethink the density of Hong Kong, what are the possible short-term and long-term strategies?

“Density 2.0” refers to the rethinking of the density spectrum in Hong Kong, and intends to provide a platform for nurturing debates and collecting ideas about searching for land supply. Regarding short-term strategies, there are ideas proposing phasing strategies during urban renewal process, and also ideas using residue urban spaces for youth housing design. Regarding long-term strategies, there are ideas about optimizing city uses across time, space, and people, and also ideas about reclaiming land in outer sea area for housing development in the coming 50 years. Beyond the city center, there are exhibits exploring the possibilities of using brownfields, and there are also in-depth research projects about the past, present and future of urban villages. The openness and inclusiveness of all exhibits aims at illustrating a vivid future image of “Density 2.0”.

The density of Hong Kong is not horrifying. We wish our “Density 2.0” is even more charming and exciting.