Value Evaluation in Existing Areas 2

Yang Yuan, Xiao Yiyun, Yu Xuechun, Zhao Jixuan

Ahmed Sazdik, Zhou Ning, Wei Yumeng, Wang Yanxi

For further details please get in touch with:

• Yang Yuan (yy2021@connect.hku.hk)

• Zhou Ning (u3590634@connect.hku.hk)

• Yu Xuechun (u3589371@connect.hku.hk)

• Sazdik Ahmed (sazdik@connect.hku.hk)

• Siddharth Khakhar (khakhar@hku.hk)

2.19 Introduction

The added value of better urban design has been controversial for some time. However, the benefits of identifying the linkages between better urban design and enhanced economic as well as social and environmental values can be significant. This paper reports on part of a recent study that attempts to explore this linkage. It examines stakeholder perceptions of value and urban design, based on six case studies of different urban design qualities. The research methodology and case studies are briefly outlined before presenting the detailed views of the key stakeholders (investors, developers, designers, occupiers, local authorities and everyday users) (Carmona M. D., 2002)and drawing conclusions. A key finding is that all major stakeholder groups are increasingly recognizing the benefits of better urban design, albeit in different ways and forms.

There have been differing views on the added value of better urban design, but there is a strong link between better urban design and the added economic value of increased urban vitality, and this paper seeks to assess the value of existing areas by measuring the value of various dimensions of urban design through different techniques, but how to measure value will be the focus of in-depth research. By examining the current and existing different views on value, this paper assesses the existing value of Tin Shui Wai and Quarry Bay in three dimensions of value through (Chiaradia, 2017) theory, and these three values will need to be measured in different dimensions related to urban design in order to study the existing value.

The assessment of existing values will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of urban design on urban life and its inhabitants, which will guide us to further complete our personal interest in specific aspects and explore the relationship between urban design and values.

2.20 Value framework

Since 2000, people have begun to pay attention to whether urban design can add public value (Carmona, 2001). However, value is generally regarded as a single measurable number. In the fields of real estate, performance measurement and accounting, however, the value of design is not only a single number. field of measurement. Urban design can regenerate declining areas, and better design can revitalize in many developments. (Carmona, 2017) serves as a research tool from the perspective of stakeholder engagement, formulation, use and management of urban development.

Through urban design, urban designers can regenerate sites, increase social well-being and civic pride, and increase urban activity. From the perspectives of different participants, the value brought by different urban designs can be drawn. Designers can guide developers to focus on environmental impact and improve energy efficiency. Conversely, poor urban design can also increase costs. (Chiaradia, 2017) further explored the value of urban design through the Urban Design Studio based on students’ understanding of urban design. Finally, it is urban design and various stakeholders that can generate good added value.

Three conceptions of societal value (Carmona, 2017) (Chiaradia, 2017)

• Value as Net benefit or Value in Exchange

Exchange value is the use value and social practical value of opportunities to developers and property owner, The potential of real estate to create investment returns generates exchange value, which is pursued by people who are interested in these returns. Homeowners, real estate brokers, landlords, developers, and financial institutions are all interested in the exchange value of land.

• Value as meaningful difference or Value in Use

The use value of goods depends on the needs and demands of consumers. Use value is the value of a property for a given purpose or to a certain user, indicating the property's contribution to the enterprise's utility or profitability." As a result, this is a relative term. "The use value will be determined in a variety of ways by each individual and group." In the case of land, not only the physical site attribute (such as slope) or location attribute (such as closeness to bus stops) influences its use value, but also the capacity of land to satisfy the demands of land users.

• Value as moral or social principles or Value in Common

Value in common generally refers to the common interests between partners. In urban design, it generally refers to the common value created by land developers and landowners and land users to serve everyone.

Articulating values in urban design

Value gradient map is a method that can evaluate exchange, use and public value. In recent years, it has been used to analyze the value of urban design. It has been widely used in professional design studios and school teaching. At the same time, it also provides a certain theoretical basis for stakeholders. The value gradiant map represents the level of value in the form of color icons. Through its clear visualization, the goal is to coordinate and alleviate the conflicting values of a place through urban design. When intervening in an urban context, participants explored current value, the influence of design on value creation, value erosion, value acquisition or realization, value creation, and value redistribution. It can also be compared to a design scheme or several design schemes. Finally, it may do these comparisons on other spatial sizes to comprehend the significance of distant urban design behavior, as well as on different rhythm scales if necessary.

Expressing/Measuring values in urban design

There are many methods to evaluate the value, according to the spatial scale, such as population density, employment density, future development plan, transportation infrastructure, land use, architectural and landscape forms, etc. For example, in an area, the population density is directly proportional to the employment density. The forms of architecture and landscape have brought value impact to the lives of nearby residents. The developed transportation, sound infrastructure and future development plans show the exchange value, use value and common value.

Visualising values in urban design

Visualization as a tool for analysis, exploration and communication has become a driving force in the task of unravelling the complex urban fabrics that form our cities. Visualization can bring together an interdisciplinary community and establish an exchange of knowledge & ideas on urban design understanding on various projects from around the globe (Ctyvis, 2022).

Visualization is perhaps the most significant of all activities in the design process to have been affected by the development of digital technologies. Digital computation moved through numbers to words, thence pictures is well known but as the dominant way we access computers and networks currently is visual which support specific visualizations relevant to urban design. In particular web-based visualization technologies such as VRML (Virtual Reality Markup/Modelling Language) are being used (Sanoff, 2016).

Visualization provides a common language to which all participants, technical and non-technical can relate. As the tool for creating and managing three-dimensional models and structures how information is entered, manipulated, displayed, and stored. The new visualization technology takes data and combines it with environmental images and material swatches to express the visual relationship between proposed and existing conditions. Sometimes 3D visualization is a more effective design tool than a static physical model and a better communications tool for communicating complex urban design scenarios (Kunze et al., 2012).

2.21 Research background

When we consider a sustainable urban development approach, rather than a purely investment-oriented one, the stress is on establishing a dialogue among the stakeholders to keep the process as transparent as possible, and with mechanisms to ensure that a strategic development vision is defined, an adequate urban programme is laid out, and a matching outcome is then reached that can be both quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated (The Prince’s Foundation 2007).

The assessment of existing sites allows the identification of existing urban problems and conflicts and the identification of directions for optimising the urban environment. By thinking about broader ‘urban design value’ in this way e as co-constructed between place and its stakeholders e we can also better understand the influence of the urban designer in the process of creating value in places. (Chiaradia et al., 2017)

The use of existing site assessments can be of great help in many urban research topics. For example, urban form, street connectivity, area accessibility, block density, urban vitality, etc.

Design correspond to value in common, in which designers create value for the public and shape valuable public spaces.

The measures used to characterize the built environment have been mostly gross qualities such as neighborhood density and street connectivity (see reviews by Ewing and Cervero 2010; Handy 200S; and Ewing 200S ). The urban design literature points to subtler qualities that may influence choices about active travel and active leisure time. Referred to as perceptual qualities of the urban environment, or urban design qualities, such qualities are presumed to intervene between physical features and behavior, encouraging people to walk.

The density corresponds to the value in exchange and value in use. Higher density means more concentrated resources and population, which can bring more value. For example, A high plot ratio generates a greater economic return per unit area of land. Density can be measured in a number of ways. Population density, road network density, POI density.

Diversity corresponds to value in common. A richer external spatial environment can provide more services to meet the physical and mental needs of more people

Diversity corresponds to value in common and value in use. A richer external spatial environment can provide more services to meet the physical and mental needs of more people. Spatial diversity can be measured by No. of people at different hours and different spaces (POS, waterfront etc) and No. of and diversity of POIs

Distance and destinations are both value in use and value in common. Accessibility is a very important use need in people’s lives. It can be calculated by the accessibility of the traffic network.

2.22 Methodology and Framework

The first step was to organize the historical and cultural timeline of the site and to sort out the natural environment of the site. The work was then divided to find and process the data. The first step was to obtain census data and Hong Kong geographic information data, which allowed for population density and a range of analyses related to the road network, block. The road network and block files were cleaned up in rhino and then grasshopper was used to analyse plot density, plot accessibility and the road network. Finally, the POI data can be obtained for density analysis in GIS to produce a point-of-interest density map. After all the drawings have been visualised the links and values can be compared and analysed.

Used software: ArcGIS pro-Population density, Floor area ratio, Open space ratio, Ground space index, Block Size city scale, Building height, Road space, POI. sDNA-analyze the accessibility of 3D pedestrian network. Grasshopper- Accessible density, Area density, Vehicle network analysis, Pedestrian network analysis. Google map- Movement and place analysis There also have other software applications that can be used for urban design analysis. For example, in term of networks analysis, we use the ArcGIS to analysis Network density and sDNA to analysis the accessibility and permeability of network.

There are also other techniques could be used in analysis spatial network, for instance previous technique Space Syntax developed by UCL (1970s), and GIS also could analysis the network. Urban Network Analysis (UNA) developed by MIT is also useful, unlike previous software tools that operate with two network elements (nodes and edges), the UNA tools include a third network element - buildings - which are used as the spatial units of analysis for all measures. Hence, when considering the impact of typology of building on the network accessibility in a super block context TSW, there are some new findings we could explore.

2.23 Tin Shui Wai and Quarry Bay

Tin Shui Wai

The town center with major commercial development is planned next to the southern district park (known as Tin Wai Park). Taller buildings are developed around the town center with lower residential developments spreading across the town.

According to the 1995 MDP, the ratio of housing mix between public and private housing changed to 7:3. The land was mainly used for residential purposes, with public housing accounting for 42% of the residential units in Tin Shui Wai South and 85% in Tin Shui Yuen North.

Quarry Bay

Quarry Bay is an area beneath Mount Parker in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Traditionally being an industrial and residential area. There is no specific location in the area of Quarry Bay. One reason is that at present, the public does not have an accurate definition of the exact scope of Quarry Bay. Quarry Bay can also be located at the area between King’s road and Shau Kei Wan Road in the East, and even the newly reclaimed land as far away as Ka hang Wan. Therefore, people often use the names of smaller parts of the District, such as Lai Chi, Tai Koo Shing, Kang Shan and so on.

2.24 Density Measurements

Population density (job/residents) in 2011, 2016, and 2021

Floor area ratio (Far)/ open space ratio (OSR)/ Ground space index (site coverage) / Building height (levels)

Tin Shui Wai

Most block are big block. The main functions are residential. The Far is quite uniform, among 7.0, and lower than Hong Kong island. Most resident buildings are towers without podium (both more than 35 floors). Pubilc buildings are at medium levels. The type of open space are open space (POS) and semi open space (POSPDs)

Quarry Bay

The three locations have a lot in common. Area 1 has an 8.6 floor area ratio, a 29.2 percent ground open space ratio, a 48.3 percent population open space ratio, and a 70.3 percent site coverage. Area 2 has an 8.9 floor area ratio, a 24.5 percent ground open space ratio, a 53.7 percent population open space ratio, and a 75.5 percent site coverage. Area 3 has a floor area ratio of 7.3, a ground open space ratio of 30.1 percent, a population open space ratio of 61.3 percent, and a site coverage of 69.9%.

Building heights in TSW

Accessibility density is the ease with which pedestrians can reach a location. The figure shows that the best locations for accessibility are the two residential areas in the north and near the Tin Shui Wai MTR station. The land use of two areas are both for residential accompanied by one or two commercials buildings. It is very different from the conclusion on neighborhood building density, where area density does not coincide with accessibility density. In the area density picture, the building which shows a high density with red color are most working as commercial function.

Because around TSW, there are lots of undeveloped areas, which are basically dominated by natural environment and villages. The distribution of roads is mainly concentrated inside site, and has a fairly clear hierarchy. We have graded the roads in Tin Shui Wai according to the principles mention in the book the hand book of urban design(Kropf 2018). There are 4 types of connections of roads. and two main hierarchy categories and each of them has 4 and 5 sub-layers.

Movement and Place

Movement and Place – is a relatively new method for establishing the strategic role of roads. The approach balances the need for movement and accommodates destination requirements. For Movement, the role of a road is to accommodate through traffic, thereby forming part of the wider traffic network. The road of Quarry Bay area is used by different modes, including private vehicles, heavy vehicles, buses and light rail. In this role, the primary function of the road is to provide a conduit for traffic from origin to destination with as little disruption as possible to minimize travel time (Woolley & Safemobility, 2018).As a Place, the role of a road is as a destination. This is a location where activities occur along or adjacent to the road.

As a Place, the primary function of the road is to provide an amenable and accommodating location for people wishing to access activities along the road for a variety of reasons – such as to access a private residence, shops and cafes, or public attractions.

Both movement and place functions have benefits in different way. They are measured using similar units, removing the tendency to measure the link function quantitatively while measuring the place function on a qualitative basis that is often not given the same level of consideration. The link and place functions of a road are considered independently, lessening the risk that the dominant function will take precedence, with space only being assigned to the other function where it is not needed for the dominant function. The recognition of both functions encourages an interdisciplinary approach to deciding the strategic role of a road (Woolley & Safemobility, 2018)

Design Measurements

Only places which are accessible to people can offer them choice. The extent to which an environment allows people a choice of access through it, from place to place, is, therefore, a key measure of its responsiveness. This quality is called permeability. It has fundamental layout implications. Because it is so basic to achieving responsiveness, permeability must be considered early in urban design in respect of the block size, shape, and dimensions.

The decision of Quarry Bay development was done on early the concept of how many routes there should be, how they should link together, where they should go and where they should not; finally, how to establish rough boundaries for blocks of developable land within the area.

Beforehand, we can precise four main relations between the Block size and permeability of the Quarry Bay area. The block size of a place determines the permeability. With a small block gives more choice of routes than one with large blocks. In the Figure 1 the large-block layout offers only few alternative routes, without backtracking. The larger blocks are more likely the commercial and small blocks are residential. The small blocks have many alternatives is respect of the size of the blocks. There is a disparity between sizes of blocks in despite of similarity of land uses. This creates “unintentionally” places with high permeability where small blocks exist (may be too small in some places), and others with lower permeability owing to large blocks.

Block area: 557,137 sqm

Block Size

Grid Layout

In the Quarry Bay area, the overall organization of block and road system offers a permeable hierarchical layout The only problem exists at few larger blocks where culs-de-sac seem to be inserted in an obligatory way so as to reach inner places as we will see later Figure 6. This does not match with uses requirements (no need for privacy in this area), it is a direct result of large blocks size.

Road Space

We can find out that Quarry Bay area has 24% of Tare space. Here the road ratio is higher than the standard city development ratio because of many inter-district Highway connection passing through this area.

Road space (Tare)

Road area: 239,322 sqm

Total area: 993,819 sqm

Tare ratio: 24%

Total area: 993,819 sqm

Block area ratio: 56%

Quarry Bay has a good urban construction foundation, reasonable road planning, complete infrastructure, public transport system covers all places. As a residential area, Quarry Bay still offers plenty of housing. The large population of these houses provides a potential market. The commercial centre is combined with the metro station and is located in the heart of Quarry Bay. It is very convenient to develop on the basis of the original commercial building, and can also maximize the use of people flow. The current business at Quarry Bay does not take full advantage of three-dimensional and pedestrian traffic and the abundance of outdoor public space. These walkways and outdoor public Spaces are independent of each other, lack of connection, and do not form a system. The lack of visual guidance for pedestrians has led to many interesting Spaces being left vacant. The overall value of Quarry Bay can be enhanced by integrating the existing outdoor public space with the three-dimensional pedestrian path, developing and planning related activities, and maximizing the existing spatial and pedestrian resources.

While it would be difficult to create a luxury brand image at Quarry Bay, it could represent a reputation for being accessible, friendly and inclusive.

value in use (resident)

For those who live in Quarry Bay, convenient public transport, a high accessibility pedestrian transport system, and a wide variety of public Spaces are all good living conditions. Compared to older neighbourhoods on Hong Kong Island, such as Sai Ying Pun and Kennedy Town, the roads are much greener and the streets wider. There are fewer shops on either side of the street, but the walking experience is more comfortable. The building density is more reasonable and the living experience is better.

However, because each community is relatively independent, there are fewer shops on the street, which also reduces interaction between residents, and the risk of children playing on the street is higher.

value in common (designer/planner)

Much of the diverse green space system at Quarry Bay is artificial and not fully integrated with natural conditions. The existing green space is mostly the result of compromise between architectural design and street, which has not formed a system and is relatively small in scale. Due to the lack of uniformity in the planning of public Spaces, these Spaces do not fully play their service role. As a result, although there is a high proportion of non-construction land, there is still no natural impression of the city. Quarry Bay is also not an attractive space for Hong Kong, which generally prefers to attract nearby residents.

List of References

• Carmona, M. d. (2001). The Value of Urban Design. London: Thomas.

• Carmona, M. D. (2002). Stakeholder views on value and urban design. Journal of Urban Design, 7(2), pp. 145-169.

• Chiaradia, A. S. (2017). Values in urban design: A design studio teaching approach. Design Studies, 49, 66-100.

• Holliday, A. E. (2014). The Effect of Urban Design on the Community and Society in Hong Kong’s New Towns: A Study of Sha Tin and Tin Shui Wai.

• Law, C. W. (2009). A Study on Tin Shui Wai New Town. University of Hong Kong publication.

• Sieh, L. C. (2021). The Value Gradient Map. Urban Design(157), 36-38.

• Sun, G. W. (2018). Ungating the city: A permeability perspective. Urban studies, pp. 2586-2602.

• Yip, M. (2022). New town planning as diplomatic planning: Scalar politics, British–Chinese relations, and Hong Kong. Journal of Urban History, pp. 361-380.

• Zhangand Chiaradia, A.J.F.L.I.N.G.Z.H.U. (2019). From Axial to Pedestrian Path-Centre Line: The Case of 3D Pedestrian Network in Hong Kong, Central. In The 12th International Space Syntax Symposium (12SSS).

• el HOSSEINY, O. M. (n.d.). A KEY MESURE FOR RESPONSIVENESS IN URBAN DESIGN (CASE STUDY OF CAIRO CBD).

• Kennedy, P. (2010). Intersection Density and Convergence Factor - D Magazine. https://www.dmagazine.com/urbanism-transportation/2010/06/intersection-density-and-convergence-factor/

• Kunze, A., Burkhard, R., Gebhardt, S., & Tuncer, B. (2012). Visualization and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning (Vol. 242).

• Sanoff, H. (2016). Visual research methods in design (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.

• Ctyvis. (2022). Visualizing Cities. https://cityvis.io/

• Woolley, J., & Safemobility, C. J. (2018). Towards Safe System Infrastructure: A Compendium of Current Knowledge Development and Use of the Austroads Safe System Assessment Framework View project Safe System Infrastructure on Mixed Use Arterials View project. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325923186