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urban design guidelines reVaMP

Background and Purposes

Urban design is an art of making the best from the built environment for people.
It is especially important for a compact and dynamic city like Hong Kong. The

Planning Department in 2003 promulgated the first Urban Design Guidelines (UDG)

for Hong Kong on the basis of the findings and recommendations of the study on
'Urban Design Guidelines for Hong Kong'. The UDG forms Chapter 11 of the Hong
Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG). In 2006, the UDG was amended

to incorporate the design considerations as recommended in the 'Feasibility Study

for Establishment of Air Ventilation Assessment System' for improving pedestrian
wind environment. Since then, there have been no substantial revision to the UDG.

The UDG is a non-statutory advisory document. It is a reference manual for
promoting understanding of urban design principles, and for improving design

quality of our built environment in functional and aesthetic terms. While the
prevailing urban design principles contained in the UDG are generally regarded as

timeless in their applicability, there is scope to improve their clarity and relevancy
to different contexts as well as their effectiveness as a tool in promoting the

quality and liveability of our built environment. As advocated in the 'Hong Kong
2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030' (HK2030+),

one of the key visions for Hong Kong is to enhance liveability in the high-density
compact city and create capacity for sustainable growth. It is important to keep

the UDG abreast of time and encourage wider usage of the document, in particular
better integration of urban design concepts and principles into different stages

of planning and development process. The Planning Department in October
2019 engaged Consultants, to carry out the Study on 'UDG Revamp' (the Study)

with a view to revamping the document to make it easier to use and identifying
any missing gaps, such as emerging urban design-related ideas and other design

measures/considerations that have been formulated over the years. The revamped
UDG will be promulgated later in 2021.

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