5. E-Engagement in Hong Kong

Citizen engagement has taken many centuries to evolve from its roots during the Greek period, developing along with the concept of democracy to its current form as it is practiced today. Participation in the planning process emerged in Great Britain in the 1940s, and began to become institutionalized in 1960s. This participation increased in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s as it was seen to result in better decision making, and eventually became known as participatory planning.  Citizen involvement continues to evolve and varies with specific context, but is generally aimed to influence the policies and decision making process that shapes the communities and cities of those citizens. More recently, the tools of public engagement are transforming considerably with the advancement and use of ICTs during the digital age, which has led to the emergence of internet-enabled online public engagement, also known as ‘e-engagement’. Planning in Hong Kong has evolved rapidly over the last two decades, transforming from a top down decision making process to a more participatory process involving active citizen engagement that has become more pronounced since the handover from British Rule in 1997. Since then, with a renewed sense of ownership, the citizens of Hong Kong have become more interested and involved  with the planning and the political processes. However, through more public engagement and increased participatory planning, there can be seen positive changes in various urban processes in Hong Kong such as urban renewal, heritage conservation, harbourfront development. In Hong Kong, information is readily available and accessible both in English and Chinese and in printed and in online formats. In addition to participatory processes, the use of e-engagement is becoming more prevalent for numerous development studies and projects in Hong Kong. The Kai Tak Development Case Study demonstrates that although the planning process has been underway for more than two decades, community involvement has been instrumental in its planning and development to date. There is now a considerable amount of e-engagement in the Hong Kong planning process and various tools are being used and developed to engage people in more creative ways during both formal and informal engagement processes. With the emergence of the digital age and through the use of ICT, e-engagement has become an integral part of citizen engagement. E-engagement has the potential to transform the public participatory process through specific events such as workshops and forums, and the continuous engagement of the public over the internet. ICT also creates the opportunity to be more open, transparent and inclusive by creating a platform for on-going engagement to develop greater trust between the community and NGOs with the public and private sector. While much progress has been made,  e-engagement in Hong Kong can be improved further through the use of various tools and social media available to more effectively engage the wider community rather than only hearing the voices of the vocal minority. This will further remove barriers to the formation of public, private and community partnerships and will help develop Hong Kong into a more affordable, walkable, liveable, sustainable and resilient city for its citizens, as well as become a model for other cities in Asia and the world.