Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development will take place in less than half a year. It is considered as the new urban agenda, and realizes the goals of the Sendai Framework, the SDGs and COP21 in aspects of housing infrastructure in providing a sustainable living environment. The draft roadmap was published earlier in March this year.
Building on the experience of the two previous Habitat conferences, this is the first instance where more grassroot civil societies and local governments are involved, implementing a participatory approach as local actors would be the ones delivering these commitments. This is a huge leap as these stakeholders can promise their own commitments and form effective partnerships. The stress in ‘inclusion’ has also hopefully reduced inequity, where vulnerable groups are not only empowered, but also involved in decision making.
Hong Kong is a highly urbanised city, and although it cannot be generalised as such, urbanisation can be valuable for development. In Hong Kong, urbanisation affects environmental determinants such as increased vulnerabilities of living in dense high-rise properties, lack of public space, and issues of infectious diseases, all of which are predeposited to the economically less advantaged population. Hence it might be beneficial for Hong Kong to exercise this advantage to further improve on its infrastructure in sustainable living. Hong Kong should learn from other big cities with social inequalities as well, such as New York and London, and recognize that city neighbourhoods can be segregated as a spatial unit for targeted interventions.
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