The Wall Effect
There is currently some controversy over the "wall effect" caused by uniform high-rise developments which adversely impact air circulation and aggravate the heat effect but also impact public hygiene and contribute to air pollution. Private developers seeking to maximise revenues have tended to build uniform blocks on seafront sites to give all units unrestricted sea view.
Environmental group Green Sense expressed concern that their survey on 155 housing estates found 104 have a 'wall-like' design. It cited estates in Tai Kok Tsui and Tseung Kwan O as the "best examples".
Head of the Planning Department, Ava Ng, argued that the air ventilation factor has been taken into consideration with regard to the auction of all prime sites on the land application list, and said the erection of tall buildings at these sites will not create any "wall effect."
An air ventilation assessment is required only for sites with a total gross floor area of more than 100,000 square metres, according to technical guidelines in existence since 2006.
In May, 2007, citing concern over developments in West Kowloon, and near Tai Wai and Yuen Long railway stations, Wong Kwok-hing of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions proposed a motion calling for measures to reduce screen-like buildings which maximise good views at the expense of air flow in densely populated areas. The motion was vetoed by functional constituency representatives.
Read more about this topic: Private Housing Estates In Hong Kong
Famous quotes containing the words wall and/or effect:
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—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“We all have—to put it as nicely as I can—our lower centres and our higher centres. Our lower centres act: they act with terrible power that sometimes destroys us; but they don’t talk.... Since the war the lower centres have become vocal. And the effect is that of an earthquake. For they speak truths that have never been spoken before—truths that the makers of our domestic institutions have tried to ignore.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)