Town Development 1

New Town Developments in Hong Kong
Author(s): PETER HILLS and ANTHONY G.O. YEH

Source: Built Environment (1978-), Vol. 9, No. 3/4, New Towns Revisited (1983), pp. 266-
277
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New Town Developments
in Hong Kong
PETER HILLS and ANTHONY G.O. YEH
Hong Kong's new towns programme was initiated

in the 1950s primarily to alleviate the congestion of the
older urban areas. While the resulting towns have not
achieved the self-containment and social balance of
new towns idealists, they offer a better future
for an increasing proportion of the population.
Hong Kong's new towns programme is one have shaped the development of the pro
of the most ambitious in the world and, in gramme and some of its successes and
some respects, one of the most successful. shortcomings. We also incorporate a brief
By the early 1980s over one million people - case study of Sha Tin new town to illustrate
almost 20 per cent of the population - had some of the main features of the contempor
been housed in the six first and second ary programme.
generation new towns (figure 1). The first
generation towns of Tsuen Wan (designated The Context
in I960), Tuen Mun (1967) and Sha Tin
(1967) have experienced the greater growth, The new towns programme in Hong Kong
but the former market towns of Taipo, is a response to particular problems that
Sheung Shui/Fanling and Yuen Long, have impacted on the territory's develop
designated in 1979, are now also growing ment over the past twenty-five years. The
rapidly. Work is currently in progress on most significant has been rapid population
the Ma On Shan extension to Sha Tin and growth resulting mainly from periodic
on the development of the seventh influxes of migrants from China. Between
designated new town at Junk Bay (1982) 1961 and 1981 the population increased by
(see table 1). By the early 1990s, these seven 58 per cent, from 3.1m to just over 5m. A
towns are expected to have a combined change in government policy in October
population of approximately 2.5 million. 1980 has dramatically reduced the number
This will result in a fundamental change in of new arrivals, but Hong Kong's current
the distribution of population within the population of 5.3m (now growing at an
territory. Approximately 50 per cent of the average annual rate of 1.6 per cent) is more
population will then be living in the New than enough to impose tremendous press
Territories. Furthermore, Hong Kong's ures on the territory's resources, parti
long-established characteristic of a single cularly housing. Despite a massive public
dominant urban complex will have been sector housing programme, much of which
replaced by a dispersed pattern of major is associated with the new towns, Hong
urban centres (Lo, 1983). Kong still has a squatter population of more
This paper examines the background to than 500,000 people.
Hong Kong's new towns, the factors that The size of the population, the territory's
266 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 9 NOS 3/4
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NEW TOWNS REVISITED
Table 1. Characteristics of New Towns in Hong Kong.

1st 2nd 3rd
Generation Generation Generation
New Town New Town New Town
Fanlingl
Tsuen Wan Shatin Tuen Mun Tai Po Sheung Shui Yuen Long Junk Bay
Year of designation of
new town status 1960 1967 1967 1979 1979 1979 1982
Distance from main
urban areas 5 km 5 km 32 km 19 km 27 km 40 km 5 km
Total designated area
(including green belt) 2700 ha 3600 ha 2200 ha 2400 ha 780 ha 210 ha 1400 ha
Total built up
(development) area 1900 ha 2276 ha 1500 ha 980 ha 610 ha 180 ha 510 ha
Target population
(approximate) 930,000 800,000 550,000 230,000 170,000 96,000 300,000
% Target population
in public housing 74% 60% 72% 48% 43% 25% 50%
Original population
(approximate) 80,000 20,000 25,000 35,000 43,000 37,000 13,000
1981 population 599,010 109,470 89,900 39,890 49,590 51,390 13,000
1982 non-agricultural
jobs 251,350 26,510 31,350 13,260 13,610 18,970 n.a.
Sources: various government sources.
limited area (just 1064 km2) and an acute only limited opportunities existed for
shortage of readily developable land have further development in or on the margins of
resulted in population densities that are the existing built-up area. It was therefore
among the highest in the world. In 1982 the necessary to look further afield for new
average population density in the metro development possibilities. Although the
politan areas, including Tsuen Wan, was first tentative steps towards a new towns
over 28,000 persons per km2. In the Sham programme were actually taken in the early
Shui Po district it reached the staggering 1950s (Wrigglesworth, 1971) - with the
figure of 165,445 persons per km2. In establishment of an industrial satellite town
marked contrast, the average for the New at Kwun Tong - the contemporary pro
Territories was a mere 792 persons per km2, gramme is very much rooted in decisions
although this figure will inevitably increase taken in the 1960s and the early 1970s. The
as a result of the redistribution of popu programme was effectively launched in
lation associated with the new towns 1960 with the designation of Tsuen Wan -
programme (Hong Kong Government, initially intended as a second industrial
1983). satellite town - as the territory's first new
By the early 1960s it was already clear that town. Planned as a self-contained town
the older urban areas were becoming with a balanced land-use pattern, Tsuen
increasingly dysfunctional due to conges Wan set the style for the territory's new
tion. The rapidly developing industrial base towns: compact, high-rise, high-density
of the territory was generating a growing urban development. According to Leung
demand for new factory sites and there was (1983) the evolution of the programme can
the ever present need for new residential be viewed in terms of five stages. The
land. However, the official view was that period 1953-59 saw its origins in the indus
NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENTS IN HONG KONG
trial satellite concept. 1960-64 represented need for measures that would reduce the
the 'formative stage' during which work social and environmental pressures associ
commenced on Tsuen Wan and a number of ated with the older urban areas. In addition,
other potential new town locations were there may also have been a political desire
investigated. The period 1965-72 saw the to be seen to be utilizing the New Territor
consolidation of the programme, with the ies, which during the first seventy years of
designation of Tuen Mun (initially known the 99-year lease period (commencing in
as Castle Peak) and Sha Tin, but as Leung 1898) had remained largely untouched by
notes, there were clear indications that the developments elsewhere in Hong Kong
early enthusiasm for the new towns was (Castells, 1983). It is perhaps ironic that
waning and that '. . . . the implementation after seventy years of relative neglect and
of the programme lacked vigour' (Leung, with less than fifteen years of the lease
1983, p. 216). The reasons for this included a remaining, the New Territories are today
slowing down in the rate of economic the key to the future development of Hong
growth in the territory, indications of an Kong.
oversupply of industrial and residential Hong Kong's colonial ties with Britain
buildings, high interest rates and, very have also played a part in shaping the
significantly, a slower rate of population development of the new towns programme.
growth. In the government's view therefore Until quite recently the concept of new
there was no great need to proceed as town planning in Hong Kong has reflected
rapidly with the development of the new an interpretation of the British approach
towns. The whole context of the new of the 1950s and 1960s, as the following
towns, however changed dramatically in suggests:
1972 when the then Governor, Sir Murray
(now Lord) Maclehose announced a ten . . . the new towns will provide more than just
year housing programme, the objective of housing. They will be places where people can
work and play, grow and learn. And with them
which was to provide public housing for will come new industries to provide new and
1.8 million people (Pryor, 1978). The com better jobs. Planners are providing for a full
mitment gave a much needed boost to the range of community facilities . . . The new towns
programme at a time when it was clearly will be fully self-contained, simultaneously pro
showing signs of losing momentum. The viding their residents with employment and
meeting their basic needs (New Territories
programme therefore entered a period Development Department, 1976, p.4).
(from 1973-78) during which its purposes
and scope were reassessed and during As the British new towns experience has
which it became very closely linked with shown, the goal of self-containment (and
massive government intervention in the that of social balance) has often proved
housing sector. The period since 1978 has elusive (Aldridge, 1979; Ogilvy, 1968;
witnessed the continued development of Thomas and Cresswell, 1973). Furthermore,
the programme and its expansion to include this experience has often been mis-inter
the former market towns and Junk Bay. preted. Britain's twenty-eight new towns
In addition to the factors mentioned were created to serve a variety of objectives
above, other considerations may also have and there is certainly nothing to suggest
encouraged the Hong Kong government to that from the outset all were intended to be
pursue a policy of population decentraliza self-contained and socially balanced.
tion by means of a new towns programme. As the programme in Hong Kong has
Although inspired by events in China, the gathered momentum, particularly over the
riots of 1967 undoubtedly shook the govern past five years, some of the established
ment and perhaps drew attention to the 'principles' of new town planning have
BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 9 NOS 3/4 269
NEW TOWNS REVISITED
been reappraised. Indeed, there is now towns is largely a reflection of market forces
increasing recognition of the fact that sev anyway. It so happens that at the present
eral of the new towns, especially those time private sector accommodation for rent
closest to the older urban areas, are unlikely or purchase is substantially cheaper in the
to develop into anything other than dormi new towns than it is in the urban areas.
tories for a workforce still dependent on Furthermore, if social groups and employ
employment opportunities in those areas. ment opportunities are to be matched up
The crucial importance of transport links then even more formidable problems arise
between new towns and the urban areas is in view of the government's inability to
well illustrated in case of Junk Bay. The ensure that the appropriate mix of jobs
ultimate size of this particular new town (including professional employment) is in
will be determined primarily by the fact attracted to the new towns. We elabor
availability of an extension to the Mass ate on some of these problems in a later
Transit Railway (MTR) - Hong Kong's section.
underground - which would link the town The discussion above has identified some
to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. With of the factors that account for the Hong
out such a link Junk Bay will probably not Kong government's commitment to a new
grow beyond 150,000 but with the MTR it is towns programme and has also briefly
expected to reach a population of 300,000. summarized the evolution of that pro
As we shall suggest, the objective of self gramme. In the following section the dis
containment with regard to employment cussion focuses on the new town of Sha Tin,
has proved very difficult to achieve in Hong which in certain respects is the centre-piece
Kong. Similarly, the objective of social of the programme.
balance in the new towns has been pursued
and has also been difficult to realize. One
The Development of Sha Tin New Town
problem here is that it is far from clear what
social balance means in the Hong Kong Sha Tin is located along a valley adjacent to
context. A sizeable Chinese middle class has the southernmost inlet of Tolo Harbour,
only emerged quite recently and there still approximately 5 km to the north of the
remain the most glaring inequalities within urban area of Kowloon. It is topographically
the society. The provision of a sizeable separated from Kowloon by the Lion Rock
proportion of private housing in Sha Tin mountain but is well served by two impor
and the later new towns certainly reflects a tant transport links: the Lion Rock road
conscious attempt to induce higher-income tunnel and the Kowloon-Canton railway.
families to settle away from the established Sha Tin has been settled since the Ming
middle-class districts in the urban areas. Dynasty (1368-1644). The fertile areas of the
This also represents a reaction to the Tsuen valley were once used to cultivate paddy
Wan experience. Tsuen Wan is character (rice) but after the war this crop was
ized by a high concentration of low-income replaced by market gardens producing
families and it has been argued that this has vegetables for the urban areas. Sha Tin
hindered the development of its shopping retained its essentially rural character until
facilities and other services and has resulted the 1970s. In the late 1950s a consultants'
in a generally drab environment (Leung, report commissioned by the government
1983). In Hong Kong, as elsewhere, the had recommended the development of a
rationale for the pursuit of social balance in dormitory town of 270,000 at Sha Tin but
new towns seems generally to have been this proposal was rejected and it was not
poorly articulated. The extent to which until 1967 that Sha Tin was formally
higher-income families move into the new designated as a new town. Work on the
Figure 2. Sha Tin 1961 - looking towards Tolo Harbour.
Figure 3. Sha Tin Valley 1961 - looking up valley from Tolo Harbour (Shing Mun river in centre of
picture).
NEW TOWNS REVISITED
development of the new town commenced responsible for the overall planning, pro
in 1970, shortly after the opening of the Lion gramming, implementation and supervision
Rock road tunnel. of the project, including the provision of
The town's original development plan land, roads, drainage and related infrastruc
covered an area of 2700 ha, a large part of ture.
which was to be land reclaimed by infilling The development of Sha Tin has been
of the shallow estuary of the Sha Tin Hoi undertaken in phases by means of a
(Tide Cove) with materials excavated from 'development package' approach. Sha Tin
nearby hillsides. The excavated hillsides has been divided into twenty-four such
were also intended to provide additional packages and they have been developed in
sites for development. In 1979 the govern order of priority in relation to financial
ment decided to extend the boundary of the considerations and the requirements of
new town's designated area to include the balanced development. Each package area
coastal site of Ma On Shan. The total area of is internally balanced as far as possible, with
Sha Tin now extends to 3600 ha. all essential services, community facilities
As with the implementation of other new and communications. Housing and indus
town projects in Hong Kong, a corporate trial sites are located in different package
approach has been adopted in the planning areas and in order to coordinate residential
and development of Sha Tin. A project provision and employment opportunities
manager leads a multi-disciplinary team of these different types of package areas are
engineers, town planners and architects developed simultaneously, although as we
Figure 4. Sha Tin New Town 1983 - new high-rise housing estates on both sides of Shing Mun river.
Figure 5. Sha Tin New Town 1983.
shall suggest, this does not necessarily have been preserved. Within the new town
guarantee an adequate supply of jobs. area there are forty officially recognized
The planning objectives of Sha Tin villages with a combined population of
involve the creation of a balanced and 20,000. A special residential zoning category
reasonably self-contained community with designated as 'village-type development'
an ultimate target population of 800,000. has been created to prevent uncontrolled
The town is essentially linear in form, development in these villages. A layout
following closely the natural contours of plan is being prepared for each village, the
the Sha Tin Valley. The Shing Mun River, objective being to improve infrastructure
beside which the new town centre will be and the local environment and to bring
located, is the central focus of the town. Sha them up to a standard comparable to the
Tin contains a variety of housing types - surrounding new town. This is also
although predominantly high-rise - devel intended to prevent pockets of blight
oped at various densities. Public housing developing within the new town area. A
units, which are being built at a density of village layout plan typically includes the
2700 persons per ha, are mainly located on existing village core, historic and religious
reclaimed land near the river. Lower buildings such as tsz tong (ancestor hall) and
density, middle-income private housing is surrounding fung shui woodlands and burial
being built on the higher ground over grounds.
looking the valley. The development of Sha Tin has been
Despite the scale and land requirements very rapid. Over the last ten years the
of the new town some of the existing population of the town has grown from
villages and fung shui (geomancy) areas 20,000 to over 200,000. As the government's
NEW TOWNS REVISITED
public housing programme has been the basis of present planning standards, Sha
main stimulus to its development, it is not Tin should have almost 40,000 manufactur
surprising to find that almost two-thirds ing jobs and yet there are less than 8000
of the population live in high-rise housing presently available in the two industrial
authority estates. Sha Tin is however pro areas of Fo Tan and Tai Wai. Inevitably, a
ving attractive to private sector developers high proportion of manufacturing workers
and a growing number of middle-income have to seek employment outside the town.
families are moving into the town because it Furthermore, a recent unpublished survey
offers cheaper property and ready access to suggested that less than 50 per cent of those
the urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong currently employed in Sha Tin are actually
Island.
local residents. The relatively low percen
The living environment of Sha Tin is tage of local workers in part reflects the fact
substantially better than that found in the that many firms moved into Sha Tin with
older urban areas, from which many of its their own workforce. This pattern was re
new residents come. It is also a considerable inforced to a certain extent because some
improvement on the earlier new town of firms found it difficult to recruit local work
Tsuen Wan. Sha Tin is well provided with ers. Public transportation links between the
open space and recreational facilities and residential and industrial areas of the town
various countrv parks are located nearby. It are not well developed and workers often
also has a comprehensive footpath and find it much easier to commute to Kowloon
cvcletrack system, the first in a Hong Kong than to travel to and from Sha Tin's own
new town. In addition, it has various facili industrial areas. Moreover, as most of the
ties which serve the whole of Hong Kong, residents moved to Sha Tin relatively
including a racecourse, the Olympic recently, they have tended to keep their
standard Jubilee Sports Centre and an previous jobs in the urban areas to retain
international rowing course on the Shing their seniority and accumulated benefits.
Mun river. With the development of the new town and
Sha Tin undoubtedly benefits from its the provision of better public transport, the
excellent transport links with the urban proportion of local workers in local manu
areas. This is in marked contrast to Tuen facturing industries is expected to increase
Mun and Tai Po, for example, which are in the future, although much will depend
somewhat isolated and much less accessi on the number of job opportunities that are
ble. Road links to Sha Tin have been actually generated.
improved with the completion of the second The shortfall in manufacturing jobs in Sha
Lion Rock tunnel. The double-tracking and Tin is not due to a shortage of industrial
electrification of the Kowloon-Canton rail land. Of the 24.32 ha of land in the indus
way, completed in July 1983, has greatly trial areas of Fo Tan and Tai Wai, only 30 per
enhanced the town's accessibility and by cent has been developed and the vacancy
utilizing the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) rate in existing industrial buildings is as
connections it is now possible to reach most high as 37 per cent. Although this may be
parts of the urban areas of Kowloon and partly explained by the economic recession,
Hong Kong Island within 30 minutes. the high vacancy rate also suggests that it
Although Sha Tin is largely self-contained may well prove difficult for Sha Tin to
with regard to the provision of community, attract sufficient industries to provide the
educational, health and recreational facili number of manufacturing jobs it requires to
ties, generating sufficient local job oppor achieve the objective of self-containment in
tunities has proved far more difficult. With employment. The situation is even worse in
a current population of 210,000 and on the the case of office employment, a major
Sha Tin, despite its shortcomings, is an

impressive venture by any standards.
Indeed, it seems almost a nonsense to use
the term 'new town' in the Hong Kong
context and especially so with regard to Sha
Tin. It is in reality a major new city. To the
visitor, it may appear to differ little from the
rest of Hong Kong. Certainly, Sha Tin is
essentially a massive, high-rise complex.
For a large proportion of its residents, it is
however a highly desirable living environ
ment and this is in part reflected in the five
year waiting list for new public housing
units, the less popular new towns requiring
a much shorter wait of about two years.
Conclusions
Hong Kong's new towns programme has

proved a remarkably successful mechanism
for decanting people from the congested
urban areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong
Island, and will doubtless continue to be so.
This is perhaps only to be expected given
Figure 6. Sha Tin New Town 1983 - flatted that the main driving force behind the
factory developed by the Hong Kong Housing programme is the mass provision of public
Authority. In foreground, original village sector housing. Thus government has at its
housing. disposal a very powerful lever to prise
people out of the urban areas. Many go
growth area in the Hong Kong economy. willingly but those allocated housing units
There are very few office developments in in some of the more distant new towns do
Sha Tin and most of the office workers, not relish the prospect of a long and
regardless of whether they live in public increasingly expensive journey to work or
housing or private housing, have to com the alternative of wage levels which are
mute to Kowloon or the Central District in often significantly lower than those in the
Hong Kong Island. urban areas.
Sha Tin is certainly not alone in facing The success of the new towns however,
these employment-related problems. also, points to the fundamental weakness of
Among the new towns, only Tsuen Wan the programme, namely that for the most
has proved a success in terms of job gener part it has been housing-led. Despite pro
ation. One important lesson of the Hong nouncements on the need for self-contain
Kong new towns programme and indeed ment and balance, the new towns - with the
one that has already been appreciated else exception of Tsuen Wan, which benefits
where is that people always prove more from its proximity to Kowloon - have
mobile than jobs. This is especially so when largely failed to attract sufficient industry
the main impetus for new town develop and employment to achieve these objectives
ment takes the form of mass provision of (Sit, 1980; Wong, 1982). The reasons for this
low-rental public housing. are many and varied but one of the most
NEW TOWNS REVISITED
significant relates to government's role in towns, has until quite recently resulted in
the overall new town development process. relatively little attention being given to
While government has been willing to inter transport infrastructure and service provi
vene in the housing sector it has been sion in the New Territories. Government is
unwilling or unable to intervene in the local now engaged in a major road construction
economy to ensure that jobs are redistri and improvement programme but given the
buted geographically to the new and rapidly rate of growth in the New Territories
growing centres of population in the New population even the capacity of the
Territories. It would never countenance improved network may prove insufficient
direction of industry to the new towns by the 1990s, especially with the additional
(using, for example, restrictions on new demands generated by Hong Kong's closer
industrial development in the urban areas) economic ties with China. The improve
as this would conflict with the long-estab ments to the Kowloon-Canton railway,
lished doctrine of 'positive non-interven mentioned previously, have already had a
tion' in economic matters to which the substantial impact on accessibility levels
territory's success is frequently attributed, over much of the New Territories.
although sometimes in a rather misguided The transport problems associated with
way. If the 'stick' cannot be used, neither it some of the new towns are one particular
seems can the 'carrot'. Government is just manifestation of certain shortcomings in the
as unwilling to contemplate any kind of planning and co-ordination of the pro
subsidy to induce firms to relocate away gramme. Again, many of these difficulties
from the urban areas. This again would stem from the fact that the programme has
smack of intervention in the economy. been housing-led. Housing estates have
There is a touch of irony about the current been completed and people have moved in
situation regarding the mobility of firms in prior to the provision of adequate transport
Hong Kong. It seems that a significant facilities and, in some cases, before social,
proportion of firms contemplating a move educational and health services are fully
from the urban areas are actually consider operational.
ing relocating across the border in the Shen The observations above suggest that
zhen Special Economic Zone rather than the some of the conclusions of a recent analysis
new towns, primarily because of lower of the British new towns may also be
factory rentals and labour costs. Thus, if applicable in the Hong Kong context.
industry does not wish to relocate away Aldridge (1979) argues that the British new
from the urban areas, or would choose towns programme has lacked a clear and
instead to move to Shenzhen and govern consistent policy framework. Hong Kong's
ment has no intention of intervening, then experience is not dissimilar. The motives
the future prospects for developing an behind the creation of most of the territory's
adequate employment base in the new new towns have more to do with a public
towns appear rather bleak. housing programme intended to subsidize a
The failure of some of the new towns to sizeable proportion of the workforce
attract sufficient employment has resulted (Leung, 1983), and thereby to protect Hong
in a substantial volume of commuting back Kong industry from inflationary wage
into the urban areas, which in turn has claims than with a new town policy per se.
imposed considerable pressures on the The objectives of the new towns pro
transport system. The preoccupation with gramme, which it should be noted were not
housing provision, coupled with perhaps a really spelled out until the mid-1970s, even
certain degree of complacency about the now appear somewhat vague and unrealis
employment generating abilities of the new tic given the government's unwillingness
to ensure that jobs as well as people are interdependence will become far more
relocated away from the urban areas. obvious in the decades ahead and Hong
Furthermore, if there are any social objec Kong's new towns and Shenzhen may well
tives embodied in Hong Kong's new towns prove to be the key elements in the develop
programme these are certainly far from ment of one of the world's great conurba
clear. tions, stretching from Hong Kong Island to
Hong Kong's high-density, high-rise new Guangzhou.
towns are a distinctive response to a
REFERENCES
particular mix of problems. Their scale is
impressive by any standards. Just one large Aldridge, M. (1979) The British New Towns: A
public estate in a new town can house a Programme without a Policy. London: Routledge
population exceeding that of many of the & Kegan Paul.
smaller British new towns. As an exercise Castells, M. (1983) Re-Interpreting Urban
in housing or rehousing hundreds of Development in Hong Kong. Text of a public
thousands of people, they are undoubtedly lecture delivered at the University of Hong
Kong, April 1983.
a success. As an exercise in comprehensive
Hong Kong Government (1983) Hong Kong 1983:
social, economic and environmental plan
A Review of 1982. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
ning, their level of success is far more Government Printer.
debatable. Indeed, some would actually Leung, W.T. (1983) The new town programme,
question the wisdom of much of the new in Chiu, T.N. and So, C.L. (eds.) A Geography
towns programme. It has been suggested, of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Oxford University
for example, that greater attention should Press, pp. 210-27.
have been given to exploring the opportuni Lo, C.P. (1983) The population: a spatial analy
ties for new developments (possibly on sis, in Chiu, T.N. and So, C.L. (eds.) A Geog
raphy of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Oxford
reclaimed land) and, perhaps more signifi
University Press, pp. 125-60.
cantly, for redevelopment (urban renewal)
New Territories Development Department (1976)
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ment in 1970s. Critics of the programme Ogilvy, A.A. (1968) The self-contained new
also point to the enormous infrastructure town: employment and population. Town Plan
costs incurred in opening up the New ning Review, 39 (10), pp. 38-54.
Territories and to the difficulties associ Pryor, E.G. (1978) Redevelopment and new
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Study. Hong Kong: Heinemann, pp. 266-86.
involved in the progrmme.
Sit, V.F.S. (1980) Hong Kong's new towns pro
Irrespective of their shortcomings, the
gramme and its regional implications, in
new towns represent the future of Hong Leung, C.K., Cushman, J.W. and Wang, G.
Kong and an increasing proportion of its (eds.) Hong Kong: Dilemmas of Growth. Hong
population. The New Territories - 'the land Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of
between' - is changing rapidly. Just over the Hong Kong, pp. 397-417.
border in Shenzhen very similar kinds of Thomas, R. and Cresswell, P. (1973) The New
Town Idea, London: Open University Press.
developments are taking place. Although a
precise formula for the administration of Wigglesworth, J.M. (1971) The development of
new towns, in Dwyer, D.J. (ed.) Asian
Hong Kong after 1997 has yet to be arrived
Urbanization: A Hong Kong Casebook. Hong
at by Britain and China, the territory's Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 48-69.
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inextricably linked to that of the People's experience, in Cheng, J.Y.S. (ed.) Hong Kong in
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New Town Developments in Hong Kong

Author(s): PETER HILLS and ANTHONY G.O. YEH

Hong Kong's new towns programme was initiated

Table 1. Characteristics of New Towns in Hong Kong.

Sources: various government sources.

Figure 2. Sha Tin 1961 - looking towards Tolo Harbour.

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Figure 5. Sha Tin New Town 1983.

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Sha Tin, despite its shortcomings, is an

Hong Kong's new towns programme has

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