"Bottom-up Approach" Proposed by Urban Renewal Strategy (URS) Review Steering Committee in Line with RICS(HK)’ Recommendations to Development Bureau

from http://www.prnasia.com/pr/10/05/100088412-1.html
HONG KONG, May 17 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Entering into the final stage of URS Review’s consultation, the URS Review Steering Committee announced its final recommendations on 11 May.

Updates for Committee/ A note in the beginning of fieldwork

It's my fourth day in the field. I still feel far from the real site partly because I am still staying in a hostel on Hong Kong island rather than the studio near Sham Shui Po where I am moving several days later. I emailed several people but have not got positive responses.

My goal for the first phase of field work (05/11-31/12/2010) is to better understand the case of Shunning Road Project regarding debates about revision of Urban Renewal Strategy. The property of the case has been acquired. URA plans to develop this site into a mixed use complex with total area, including 110 Residential flats and Commercial space of 775 square meters. The Shunning Road  Concern Group has been working on a bottom-up proposal against URA's project since last year and presented the proposal to the affected community and the district since Sep. Their proposal has earned support from the Sham Shui Po district council. The move is worth concerning for me in two senses: 1) the proposal is unique in highlighting tenant's right to be relocated on site and its proposal of social housing, which is different from the first bottom-up proposal in Wedding Card Street that focused on property right. 2) The attitude of the district council may suggest spatial politics around urban redevelopment between the district and the URA.

Meanwhile, the government-led public consultation process ended in June 2010, the draft of revised Urban Renewal Strategy (URS) is published in October and to be finalized in the end of this year. In the draft, Urban Renewal Authority's approach is revised from a "people-centered" approach" to a “people-centred, district-based, public participatory” approach. If this will be the case, the Shunning Road Project will be a test to see if the new approach is including a more placed-based, inclusive consideration. Another thread that I am tracing is the white paper prepared by H15 Concern Group in parallel to the government-led revision of URS. I developed the study of the process into a paper with Kit Lam.

Talking to a scholar in Hong Kong, he opined that the Revision of URS is totally misleading the public since what matters at practice is Urban Renewal Ordinance, which has not changed along with the revision of URS in the past two years. He felt apathetic to those concern groups but thought they were not fighting in a right direction. How legitimate is this kind of comment? I will try to figure it out later.

都更人生之不可能和諧荒謬劇

都市更新在台北延燒，套句民眾戲語，已近全民起乩。十月二十七、八日台大學生會大規模舉辦「都更人生」論壇，邀請北市兩黨候選人發表看法，四百個席次的演講廳幾無虛席。「都更人生」標題如戲碼，卻不偏不倚呈現了都市更新在台北引起的荒謬故事，以及市府的規劃專業思考邏輯。論壇現場有公部門專業者無奈地表示抗爭民眾多為利益分配不均而佯裝弱勢、市府祭出容積獎勵只為了促進更新效率，立意良善；也有受害居民出席陳情，無法接受候選人和官員把都市更新都歸咎於市場機制，責因於偶發暴力事件，甚有民眾拿著自己社區內更新後的家戶坪數清冊，歷歷指陳權利分配不公，過程不透明。如同論壇中提到，都市更新不是建築更新，而是城市全面的體質轉變，以有增無減的爭執衝突來看，都市更新確實引起了市民社會的體質激變，讓人憂心。

Details matter

http://renewaltv.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/ursreview/

to summarize...

NPA invites social housing bids

PROTESTS:Civic groups accused the government and construction firms of ignoring the needs of the disabled who have very limited housing options

By Ted Yang  /  Staff Reporter

A disabled person holds up a sign, joining a protest with a group of non-homeowners outside the office of the National Property Administration in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: CNA

The National Property Administration (NPA) yesterday invited open tenders for the construction of social housing for students and the elderly based on the build-operate-transfer model, but drew criticism from civic groups, who said the government was ignoring the plight of the disabled.

The agency began collecting tenders for three plots of land located in prime areas in Taipei City, which will be leased out to build affordable houses, with royalties ranging from NT$837 million (US$27.2 million) to NT$29.44 million. The tenders are scheduled to be opened on Dec. 15.

Representatives of Raging Citizens Act Now (RCAN, 人民火大行動聯盟) accused the agency of currying favor with land developers and neglecting low-income students and senior citizens, as well as excluding the disabled from the social welfare project.

Debates on naming : "social housing" or "affordable housing"?

On an island where social housing has not been promoted or even recognized, debates on social housing grew with heating politics caused by impending elections of five major metropolitans in the end of this year. It involves a major question, "what is social housing?" and thereby "who should be considered in the envisioning of social housing?" Many people would suggest the minority. However, this term fails to address the emerging picture of the whole scene either.

There are groups asking housing right for young people, poor students, and the elder. On the other hand, many sub-groups who belong to the minority feel left out such as the disabled community. 

There is also issue of labeling- or to be more strait-forward, stigmatizing. The discourse goes as follows, social housing is desperately in need, yet social housing should not be provided like an enclave locating on the edge of the city. It should not be planned as a concentration camp where all of the powerless live outside of the majority's eye sight. However, people who concern for land rent gap like developers argue that expensive land in the city center should be fully developed to qualify its capacity.

to be continued... 

轉載︰潛行舊區的真假「促進者」

http://kwuntong.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/轉載︰潛行舊區的真假「促進者」/

to summarize this article...