The Sustainability Study of Rock Cavern Development in Hong Kong

Land shortage problem is a challenge for the future development in Hong Kong. Nowadays, reclamation and urban redevelopment are the major methods used to increase the land supply. Yet, they are not sustainable in long term. In order to obtain new land for future development, the rock cavern development is being further introduced recently. Through using the methods of case studies, interviews and questionnaire survey, the research findings show that rock cavern development is a sustainable option for Hong Kong's further development. Generally, the public is supportive towards developing rock caverns and underground spaces in Hong Kong, with the community and public facilities are more preferable to be developed. However, more opposition of the development project is resulted once it is implementing close to the residents, which is mainly due to NIMBYism. The findings also reflected the hidden problem of Hong Kong's planning system, and the insufficiency of citizen participation within the planning and development processes. There are still rooms for Hong Kong to improve or enhance its planning system, so as to reach the achievement of community-based sustainable development.