Urban redevelopment and work-life balance
Every year, the Esri Young Scholars Award is exciting as the entries reveal what local young people care about, and their creative thinking always brings pleasant surprises. This Award has been held since 2012, enabling tertiary students around the world to research and propose solutions to their chosen topics using geographic information systems (GIS).
The competition in Hong Kong is divided into individual and group categories, with four Merits in addition to the champion, first runner-up and second runner-up. In terms of prizes, the winner of the individual category will receive free access to the annual Esri User Conference in the United States in July, where they can share their insights with over 20,000 GIS users around the world and present their research at the venue. Students will also be invited to join the Esri Young Professionals Network (YPN) and the GIS Academy, which I established in 2022, to interact with talented and professional users from all over the world, as well as to enhance their knowledge and employment opportunities.
In addition, the awardees will also receive internship opportunities from the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to put their knowledge into practice.
The themes of this year's award-winning entries include urban planning, which is the most common usage of GIS, such as the trend of redevelopment of old buildings, the development of green and smart mobility, the transition to a sustainable Hong Kong for all, and how to find the most liveable place in the Central and Western Districts of Hong Kong Island. Some also pay attention to the lives of the disadvantaged, including the plight of the floods and the living conditions of the elderly. In addition, two of the award-winning entries this year are unique in their analysis of dietary health and food distribution issues in Hong Kong.
It is gratifying to see that the diversity of the subject matter reflects the care of young people for different segments of society and the active search for solutions to address their pain points.
The group category was won by five students from the Department of Urban Planning and Design of the Faculty of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong: CHEN Siyi, LUO Bingyu, SHEN Jinkun, WANG Chaofan and WANG Ziming, for their work entitled Rebuilding Hong Kong’s Old Building Stock: Trends & Impact.
Faced with the challenges of double ageing of private housing and population in Hong Kong, students discussed which neighborhoods have the best chance of redevelopment based on various factors such as demographic characteristics (including residential density and proportion of low-income families), economic situation, land use and property price. They found that neighbourhoods with severely ageing populations and buildings may not be favoured by developers, as return from redevelopment there may not be attractive enough, so targeted government policies are needed to proactively address the challenges of urban dual ageing.
HON Sin Man from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics of the Faculty of Construction and Environment of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University won the first runner-up in the individual category. His work Green TOD Viability Boosting Smart HK Mobility explores how to promote green transit-oriented development (TOD) in Hong Kong to reduce traffic congestion and enhance quality of life.
TOD refers to mixed land uses, such as commercial, residential, office, schools, hotel, and more, to shorten residents' travelling time. Hon pointed to Wan Chai, Central and Western District, Yau Tsim Mong and Kwun Tong all meeting the standard. He also suggested that employment opportunities should be increased in the vicinity of the eight MTR stations, such as Lohas Park, Kam Sheung Road and Lai King, so as to give full play to the potential of these places and promote the work-life balance of residents.
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