RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2025, but public concerns about the cost, environmental impacts and suchlike remain unaddressed. As the public consultation on the Lantau Tomorrow Vision has begun, a systematic study on artificial islands in other places may help the public better understand the potential problems of reclamation projects, and allow us to reach out to those affected by land reclamation projects elsewhere.

“To comprehensively foresee the major issues that may arise in Lantau Tomorrow Vision, this research team examined the status and development trends of large-scale reclamation projects around the world from the past three decades, so as to identify the common problems faced by these urban expansion projects, the way these problems emerge and their underlying factors.

To take overseas examples out of context will likely lead us into an information pitfall- overlooking the common and substantive obstacles and risks of these megaprojects- and lead us into making overly optimistic decisions that would cost the society and environment dearly. To avoid this, a systematic study into these overseas mega reclamation projects is required.

Based on the aforementioned background, the aims of this study are to examine the current status and development trends of global large-scale reclamation projects, to identify and conceptualise the issues faced in the use of large-scale reclamation as a means to build new development areas, and to analyse the conditions and causes of these issues.

The Scope Of Research

The reclamation projects included in this study were selected according to these three criteria:

The project is planned for urban development uses such as residential, commercial, or tourism and recreation, instead of dedicated specifically for industrial, transportation or ecological purposes;

It is an artificial island project with an area of at least 100 hectares (1 square kilometre) or a nearshore reclamation project with an area of at least 400 hectares (4 square kilometres);

1. The use of reclaimed land

The project commenced construction or was announced by their respective governments as being abandoned over the past three decades (1986-2022).

This study focuses on reclamation projects planned for urban development purposes such as residential, commercial, tourism and recreation. Recent large-scale reclamation projects around the world are often developed under new planning models, with entirely different development contexts from the cities in which they are located. As most of these projects are mainly planned for mixed land uses, this research has excluded reclamation projects that are generally used exclusively for transportation2 and industrial facilities3.

2. The scale of reclamation

This study focuses on artificial island projects with an area of at least 100 hectares (1 square kilometre)4 , or near-shore reclamation projects with an area of at least 400 hectares (4 square kilometres)5 . Whether it is an artificial island built far from existing shores or a near-shore reclamation along the original shoreline, as long as the development area reaches a certain scale, it is possible to create a new development area that is very different from the original urban context, so both meet the purpose of this study.

3. Year in which the reclamation was started or suspended

Information on reclamation projects in the distant past is difficult to collect and may not be comparable to today&!s reclamation projects, therefore we focus on artificial islands and large-scale reclamation projects over the past 30 or so years (1986-2022). In addition, as most satellite images can be dated back to the mid-1980s, the development process of artificial island projects in the past 30 years can also be traced from the cities in which they are located As most of these projects are mainly planned for mixed land uses, this research has excluded reclamation projects that are generally used exclusively for transportation and industrial facilities

In fact, some reclamation projects are only “concepts” or “powerpoint cities” put forward by individual private developers, and it is difficult to confirm whether they are likely to be realised. In reality, there are far more artificial island “fantasies” than implemented ones, so this study only focuses on projects which have commenced construction, or which suspension have been announced officially.

Research Methodology

According to the above defined scope, this study has systematically collected and analysed tens of thousands of literature on reclamation projects, mainly sourced from official documents, academic journal articles, as well as international and local media reports in Chinese or English. Detailed steps of conducting this research are as follows:

1. First of all, by following a list of countries and regions around the world6 , we conducted “keyword searches” using a combination of country/region name and terms such as “reclamation” and “artificial island”. Based on the result, the list “Summary of Large-Scale Reclamation Projects and Current Status” were collated under the criteria set out in the scope of research.

2. For cases with limited online and public data available, satellite imagery from Google Earth over the years were used for determining the project commencement date and the site area. Process of this research method is as follows:

▪ Identify the site area to be reclaimed by first comparing the images with the reclamation project plans;

▪ The first sign of construction within the waters of the reclamation area (usually the construction of dikes) shall be considered as the year of reclamation commencement;

▪ The year of reclamation completion shall be the year when the planned reclamation area has been completely converted into land.

3. Next, we searched over a thousand documents in English and Chinese, including academic articles, international and local media reports, government documents, and research reports from civil groups, using the name of each artificial island or near-shore reclamation