West Kowloon Cultural District Project
Introduction and Background
After finished the second public consultation on the three models (City Park, Cultural Connect and Project for a New Dimension), West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) project arouse public’s attention again. It was first announced by Tung Chee-hwa in 1998 to develop Hong Kong as the cultural hub in Asia with world-class facilities inside the district including theatres, performance venues, museums, exhibition centers and piazzas. However, after the first public consultation, the government overthrew original proposal due to strong opposition on the single-developer approach and expensive construction cost on the canopy concept by the local community in 2004. Meanwhile, in 2008, the WKCD Authority was set up to develop this project in response to the 2007-08 Policy Address launched by Donald Tsang. In 2009, Foster, Rem Koolhaas and Rocco Yim Sen-kee were invited to design WKCD project and three models were unveiled for the second public consultation in August 2010. Finally, on 4th March 2011, WKCD Authority announced Foster’s model, City Park, as the winner of design competition which helps WKCD step into a new stage (Wong, O. & Chow, V., 2011).
Issue: Would WKCD have a significance impact on cultural tourism in Hong Kong?
Although there is no evidence showed that WKCD would have large influence to cultural tourism, it did arouse the public’s interest in the cultural and art development in Hong Kong. Attracting locals to visit WKCD is essential as tourists will fallow the steps of local people as they think such activities can reflect the city’s culture (Chan, W.C., 2009). If WKCD can arouse residents’ interests in art and cultural activities and help to improve the standard in such areas, tourists may fallow this as a part of Hong Kong’s city life. Thus, WKCD’s development should focus on the local first and pass to the world afterwards so that it can be evolved from a local district to a must-see attraction. Nevertheless, only
After finished the second public consultation on the three models (City Park, Cultural Connect and Project for a New Dimension), West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) project arouse public’s attention again. It was first announced by Tung Chee-hwa in 1998 to develop Hong Kong as the cultural hub in Asia with world-class facilities inside the district including theatres, performance venues, museums, exhibition centers and piazzas. However, after the first public consultation, the government overthrew original proposal due to strong opposition on the single-developer approach and expensive construction cost on the canopy concept by the local community in 2004. Meanwhile, in 2008, the WKCD Authority was set up to develop this project in response to the 2007-08 Policy Address launched by Donald Tsang. In 2009, Foster, Rem Koolhaas and Rocco Yim Sen-kee were invited to design WKCD project and three models were unveiled for the second public consultation in August 2010. Finally, on 4th March 2011, WKCD Authority announced Foster’s model, City Park, as the winner of design competition which helps WKCD step into a new stage (Wong, O. & Chow, V., 2011).
Issue: Would WKCD have a significance impact on cultural tourism in Hong Kong?
Although there is no evidence showed that WKCD would have large influence to cultural tourism, it did arouse the public’s interest in the cultural and art development in Hong Kong. Attracting locals to visit WKCD is essential as tourists will fallow the steps of local people as they think such activities can reflect the city’s culture (Chan, W.C., 2009). If WKCD can arouse residents’ interests in art and cultural activities and help to improve the standard in such areas, tourists may fallow this as a part of Hong Kong’s city life. Thus, WKCD’s development should focus on the local first and pass to the world afterwards so that it can be evolved from a local district to a must-see attraction. Nevertheless, only
References: Anonymous, (2011) “Foster design should not be the only winner”. South China Morning Post, March 5 Chan, W.C. (2009) “Significance of the Wets Kowloon Cultural District in the Development of Cultural Tourism in Hong Kong”. BSc. In Hotel and Tourism Management thesis, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Nip, A. (2011) “HK$21.6b ‘not enough’ if arts hub built now”. South China Morning Post, March 6 Wong, O. & Chow, V. (2011) “Second time lucky for Foster in West Kowloon arts hub”. South China Morning Post, March 5