Victoria Harbour as a Harbour: The Importance of Integrated Land-Water Planning

The Harbor Business Forum’s Victoria Harbour as a Harbour: The Importance of Integrated Land-Water Planning Report (the “Land-Water Planning Report”) was published in June 2011. It builds on the HBF’s 2009 study Integrated Harbour Vision and Delivery Plan – The Business Case to explicitly make the case that planning around Victoria Harbour cannot focus on land-side issues alone but needs to consider use of the water as well.

The Land-Water Planning Report draws together data and analysis not just of the use of land around the harbourfront but also the situation on the water as well. It records evolving marine activity and land uses around the harbour, showing how and where the two interact and identifying areas where apparent land-first planning is causing potential problems or missing significant opportunities. The report goes on to show the importance of retaining and actively encouraging greater land-water interface as part of a truly vibrant harbour, makes policy recommendations to achieve this goal and suggests indicative harbour enhancement programmes that highlight the importance of adopting a truly integrated approach to land-water planning.

This report deals with some 76km of harbourfront around Victoria Harbour, stretching from Tsing Yi in the west to Chai Wan in the east.

The Land-Water Planning Report can be freely downloaded by clicking on the icon below: