NEW TOWN INTENSIFICATION: UPGRADING IN-BETWEEN SPACES

Li Hejuan Wang Yuxuan

Yuen Long district, in the western New Territories of Hong Kong, covers an area of about 138.56 square kilometers, which is three times that of Kowloon, and 1.8 times that of Hong Kong Island. As an older existing market town, Yuen Long New Town has a mixture of old urban blocks, and underused spaces such as parking lots, drainage channels and unattractive street scapes. However, due to its strategic location between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Yuen Long has the potential to serve as a vibrant core within a polycentric Hong Kong, and the wider Greater Bay Area.

This project explores a careful upgrading strategy for Yuen Long, introducing landscaped public spaces and new development at the Long Ping Station area and transforming the underused drainage channel into a vibrant pedestrian axis. Through a strategic mixture of new industry functions and cultural institutions, job opportunities and economic attraction would be increased, while maintaining the key urban qualities of the existing area.

Yuen Long is located along a series of high value natural areas and nature reserves, and has access to several country parks. The project explores how this privileged access to nature can be reintroduced in the heart of the town, by introducing green corridors at the locations of underused drainage channels.