Winner of HKIP Awards 2020

Certificate of Merit 優異獎

Urban Design Guidelines Revamp 更新《城市設計指引》

Planning Department, HKSAR Government 規劃署
Farrells Farrells

UDG Revamp1.png

Urban design is the art of making places for people. It is especially important in a compact and dynamic city like Hong Kong. The Urban Design Guidelines (UDG) addresses the three-dimensional relationship of buildings, spaces between and around them, and the surrounding landscape. To help create a liveable and sustainable urban environment in Hong Kong, four overarching principles to put people first are formulated, namely responding to context, pedestrian-friendly movement network, engaging public realm, and people-centric building design. The revamped UDG are designed to be visually engaging and interactive, featuring distinctive color illustrations and images to draw readers in. A matrix is designed to navigate guidelines relevant to different project scales whilst a checklist with questions prompts readers to consider relevant design issues.

The UDG are more than a set of guidelines. They represent an urban design vision that puts people first in the design of the built environment while embracing the city’s distinctive natural assets and unique neighbourhood characters. The UDG are to support the strategic directions of the city as set out in Hong Kong 2030+ to improve liveability of the city with particular emphasis on climate mitigation and adaptation, pedestrian comfort, and well-being of the citizens within a dense urban context.

城市設計猶如一門營造地方的藝術，對於香港這個集約及充滿活力的城市尤其重要。《城市設計指引》（《指引》）着眼於建築物、建築物之間以及周圍空間和附近景觀的三維關係。透過《指引》為香港締造一個宜居且可持續的城市環境，其中闡述了以人為本的四項首要原則 - 因地制宜、行人友善的通行網絡、富吸引力的公共空間和以人為中心的建築設計。《指引》更新版旨在提高視覺吸引力和互動性，以獨特彩色插圖和圖像吸引讀者閱讀。「列表」的設計可協助讀者在進行不同規模發展時選擇可供參考的相關指引。同時，「清單」以問題形式提示讀者考慮相關設計因素。

《指引》不僅是一套指導準則，亦代表了城市設計的願景。此願景着重以人為本的建築環境，尊重城市的自然資產和獨特鄰里風貌。更新的《指引》亦採納了《香港2030+》有關改善城市宜居性的策略方向，重點針對氣候變化的紓緩和適應、行人舒適度和提升市民在高密度城市環境中的生活質素和福祉。

Gist of Adjudicators’ Comments:

  • Through an innovative restructuring of the existing UDG under four overarching principles, the revamp has put forward a comprehensive set of practical guidelines in a user-friendly and inspiring format. The arrangement of related guidelines in short sentences or points would guide/influence thought or action in approaching development projects of various scales and facilitate its future additions and updates.

  • The new guidelines incorporate the emerging urban design objectives and considerations relating to climate mitigation and adaptation, sustainable landscape, pedestrian comfort and well-being to promote liveability, resilience and sustainability. The extensive use of colour illustrations and images as well as provision of navigation matrix and question checklist would not only facilitate a thorough design thinking process by the practitioners, but also enhance public understanding in the contribution of good urban design to urban developments.

評審意見撮要：

  • 此次修訂根據四個首要原則對現有的城市設計指引進行創新性修改，提出一套既易於使用，亦具啟發性的全面而實用的指南。相關準則利用簡短的句子或要點來引導或影響對不同規模發展項目的想法和行動，並便利將來對《指引》作出擴充及更新。

  • 新準則納入了新興的城市設計目標以及緩解和適應氣候變化、可持續景觀、行人舒適度及福祉有關的考慮因素，以促進城市的宜居性，抗禦力和可持續性。新準則廣泛地使用了彩色圖例及圖像，並提供了「列表」和「清單」，不僅將有助於從業人員進行全面的設計思考，還將加強公眾理解良好城市設計對城市發展的重要性。