The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) is proud to announce the big success with its 55th Anniversary Conference, which is held today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. As one of the signature celebrations of the 55th anniversary program, the Conference was received with great enthusiasm among industrial professionals from Hong Kong and beyond and also related government bodies.
The Organizing Committee of the HKIA 55th Anniversary Conference was much honored to have invited Mr. Donald TSANG Yam-kuen, GBS, GBM, Chief Executive of the HKSAR Government, as Guest of Honor of the Conference. Mrs. Carrie LAM CHENG Yuet-ngor, GBS, JP, Secretary for Development, Development Bureau of the HKSAR Government, and Ms Eva CHENG, GBS, JP, Secretary for Transport and Housing Bureau of the HKSAR Government, have also presented their keynote speeches in the morning session and afternoon session respectively and shared their views on the future development of Hong Kong as an important city in the globe.
Other speakers invited are all renowned architects, engineers, academia, politicians from Hong Kong, Mainland China and overseas. Plenary sessions were also hosted to cover infrastructure, transport and the high-density cum high-rise development in Megalopolis.
With all the interesting topics covered, today’s Conference has attracted over 600 architects, legislators, government officials, developers, consultants, contractors and other stakeholders to attend.Mr. Dominic Lam, President of HKIA, commented, “Hong Kong is a unique city with high density development and full of high-rise buildings. We have to study its merit and problems which will help many other cities in the world of plan for their urbanization development in future.”
Why Megalopolis and Architecture?
Megalopolis is a densely populated urban region embracing one or more very large cities or metropolises. Megalopolis evokes daunting size, a vast scale of infrastructure, organization and governance of an unprecedented order. Academics, architects, planners, city developers and governance designers have explored the concept and the way in which accepted ideas of the city and urban hierarchy needs to be re-conceptualised for a well-balanced living environment in the future.
In today’s context, with economic considerations to the fore, Megalopolis becomes manifest with the joining of a number of independent cities through fast transport and electronic systems. The successful linking and merging of such systems has sparked current concerns with the need to house an increasing proportion of the population who will be moving from the country side to the city to take advantage of employment and the convenience of urban living.
Under the 12th Five-year Plan for China, Hong Kong will play a significant role in the development of the Pearl River Delta region. With the recent development of cross-boundary facilities and infrastructure, Hong Kong would be better connected with the Pearl River Delta and with the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Quality Living Area. The Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region will surely develop into a Megalopolis in the 21st century.The 55th Anniversary Conference aimed to explore the development of Megalopolis and its components – the architecture with particular reference to Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta region and other similar developments in the world.
