There is the belief that here in Hong Kong, or Asian cities in general, pedestrians reign supreme, and that the personal vehicle takes a back seat. Besides, it's Asia, where the average population density is higher than most downtown core in Europe and North America. So why is it that traversing in Hong Kong by foot is more than just a walk in the park? The picture below says it all. It is the pedestrians that have to look out for cars, not the other way around. This mentality would be a North American or European driver's paradise.
After being here for several days and casually observing the behaviour of motor vehicle drivers, delivery cyclists, and pedestrians, I have been able to draw a few observations and some food for thought. This entry will also attempt to explain why things are the way they are, and conclude with some final analysis. This is in no way a planning research paper, however, it would be a great topic of discussion amongst urbanists, architects, social advocates, transportation planners, and land use planners alike.
Hong Kong is a city in constant flux. It never sleeps. It never takes a break. Under the hustle and bustle of the concrete canyon below is a transportation network that functions, albeit in the most un-Asian-like way. I have always come to known as Hong Kong as a pedestrian unfriendly city despite its wide sidewalks (although old parts of town may have sidewalks about 0.5 metres in width, newer standards are probably up to three metres) and attractive surface materials with visual impairment aids. So lets take a walking tour in town that I did while on my trip. The map below shows the numerous windy roads of various inportance, and grey lines to which appears to be pedestrian linkages.
A bit of context. Connaught Road (the main road in yellow) is a six-lane limited access highway that runs right in the middle of Central and links with Wan Chai and beyond. North of Connaught Road is an area of transition. Years of land reclamation and the redevelopment of government land have resulted in new infrastructure being built. If you compared this from as recently as 2010, you would have noticed a stark contrast. This is how fast Hong Kong moves.
My goal is to walk from Statue Square, to City Gallery. From the map it would appear that I would have to walk from the square and cross the Chater Road north of the square, and across Connaught Road, and finally to the memorial garden. Not so apparently. I had to walk back into the subway station and through one of the numerous pedestrian tunnels that gets me to the AIA Central office tower.
After five minutes of walking, I finally found my exit, identified as J3 on the map near the Hong Kong Club Building. From then on I walked on the north side of Chater Road and passed the AIA Central building and into an intersection, Murray Road and Chater Road (right side of the map). After making it across after a waiting for 2-3 mins for the light to change, I reach a pedestrian footbridge (most footbridges do not have elevators) that takes you over Connaught Road. Crossing that gives you a spectacular view of both Wan Chai and Central.
Edinburgh Place has wider sidewalks but has no street furniture and street trees to shelter pedestrians from the elements. After doing several detours because of construction where afterwards I find the sidewalks were closed due to construction. There were no detour signs to say where to go. After turning back I headed back I made it to Lung Wo Street and Edinburgh Place.
Overall the experience was a negative one. As this was my first time taking this route, I was lost right from the beginning. With little street furniture and street trees, the sidewalk is uninviting especially in the heat of summer. Major roads literally cuts community in half. Pedestrian bridges do not improve connectivity between destinations. Sidewalks are wide, but many go nowhere. Many intersections are difficult to cross due to the high vehicular speed and numerous traffic lights with different frequencies. So the whole journey took almost 15 mins, where it could easily take five.
So what can we learn from my example? Several items comes to mind.
1. Pedestrians must yield to vehicles: This was a surprising observation, given that there are so many pedestrians in Hong Kong, and there is rarely a sidewalk without at least a few pedestrians. As there are many more pedestrians than motor vehicles on any given intersection, you would think that pedestrians would have the right of way just due to the sheer number of people inconvenienced to allow cars through. But in such a high density city like Hong Kong, I found out that this behaviour is not only a learned behaviour as a culture, but also a necessity. If drivers were to yield to every single pedestrian, cars would never be able to go anywhere, and there would be perpetual gridlock. In western cities, this would never occur since there just isn't enough pedestrians to cause a mobility impediment to cars, and so in that case, pedestrians could have the right of way.
2. Pedestrian Tunnels aid in pedestrian control: Most, if not all MTR stations have at least some form of pedestrian tunnel or bridge linking either a housing estate, mall, or office tower. This is certainly nothing new of course (ie PATH system in Toronto). Jane Jacobs was never a fan of these tunnels as they did not contribute to the vibrancy of the pedestrian environment. Most Asian cities are a different beast however. These tunnels are a necessity in order to move people about as most sidewalks in Hong Kong have reached past over capacity. Take Causeway Bay, home to the world's highest commercial rent and some of the most crowded intersections in the city. Home to several large-scale shopping malls, it is pedestrianism gone extreme. Each mall and large office block are connected by a dozen tunnels that just spiral out of the station. And even then, sidewalks are unbearably crowded.
3. Newer development does not contribute to public realm: with private developers building these lavish new housing estates that takes up several blocks, the original road network becomes disentangled. The streets are no longer inviting because these mega structures look inward and not outwards. The pedestrian environment becomes stark and sterile. There are no places to go to other than malls within the podiums of these housing estates. Public transportation, or even driving, becomes necessary because gone are the days of walking to the corner market for groceries. Planning in Hong Kong has become westernized, and in a very detrimental way.
The future of Hong Kong does not seem as bright as one would think. True, more people are being crammed into these housing estates with dozens of 50+ storey residential towers, but at what cost?
