Transit-oriented development and residential location in Hong Kong: from economic and social spatial perspectives

Abstract

Transit development is being placed as a priority in many world cities’ transportation master plan to improve connectivity and urban mobility. With new rail lines and bus routes, residents can enjoy higher accessibility and more activity opportunities. Upon the arrival of better access to public transport, land price in the catchment areas will increase, which is a process of capitalization of public services and amenities. As land price rises, apartments in the precincts may become unaffordable. Potentially, gentrification and displacement may take place in affected neighbourhoods. In this presentation, I will examine the interrelationship of accessibility, land price, and neighbourhood transition in the context of Hong Kong from economic and socio-spatial perspectives. From an economic perspective, the results indicated that the network accessibility of rail lines had a statistically significant capitalisation effect on property prices that varied across different submarkets. The improvements in rail accessibility had a substantially greater effect on the changes in property price in several new town submarkets along the new lines. We conclude that the price effect of new transport infrastructure goes beyond the local catchment areas. From a socio-spatial perspective, we reveal that local improvement in accessibility due to the expansion of the MTR network has attracted private residential developments. This implies that low-income households might have been gradually squeezed out of prime locations. This presentation will provide insights into how we may evaluate the economic impact of public transport systems on land value and the societal impact on neighbourhood transition and low-income households. Based on the findings, we call for urban policies that address housing affordability issues across the region and a re-examination of land value capture policies. We also propose recommendations on urban development under the transit-oriented development (TOD) model, with a view to making Hong Kong and other transit cities more socially and spatially just.