The City University of Hong Kong
Department of Public and Social
Administration
SA3205: Urban Policy (Semester A, 2005-06)
Mongkok &
Langham
Place
Site Visit
Report
Lecturer: Dr. Adrienne
La Grange/ Dr. Rebecca Kwok/ Dr.
James Lee
Tutor: Dr.
Yeung Che-keung, Nelson
Programme: BSSAPM
Tutorial:
TA1
Group members:
Cheng Hon-kwai,
Horace (5025 6554)
Choy
Yung-yung, Kami (5053
5137)
Ma
Po-lam, Paulie (5060
3790)
Yeung Wai-sim, Florence (5042 1496)
Date of Submission: 13-10-2005
Discussion
Topics:
1. Make a site visit to Mongkok
and Langham Place. Compare the physical form of Langham Place and the
neighbouring streets of Mongkok. You may use photographs to highlight your main
observations but all photographs must be given a title and referred to in the
text.
2. Who goes to Langham Place and
what do they do there. How does this compare to the people who visit or live in
Mongkok. Discuss any differences you identify.
3. The building of Langham Place has
begun to transform Mongkok. In your opinion what is the impact of Langham Place
on the wider neighborhood in which it is located. Identify any issues or
problems from the development of Langham Place in Mongkok.
4. What is the meaning of the
Langham Place experience to you as a Hong Kong resident?
1.
Make a site visit to Mongkok and Langham Place. Compare the physical form of
Langham Place and the neighbouring streets of Mongkok. You may use photographs
to highlight your main observations but all photographs must be given a title
and referred to in the text.
Introduction of Langham
Place
In order to start a sustainable renewal on the old neighborhood in Mongkok, Langham Place was to open for business in late 2004. The Langham Place is a 1,800,000 sq.ft.3 -in-1 mega development, comprising a 15-storey shopping mall, a 59-level Grade A office tower and a 665 –room 5-star hotel where developed by the Urban Renewal Authority and the Great Eagle Group[1].
The 15-storey mall with a myriad of shops, restaurants and entertainment hotspots, a 59-level Grade A office tower, and finally complete the picture with a 5-star hotel. Combining all these three projects into one, Langham Place creates a powerful force of synergy as the influx of numerous affluent hotel guests and office workers inevitably bring even more high-spending shoppers to the mall.
(A) Shopping Mall
Langham Place offers 600,000 sq. ft. of floor space where shoppers can find everything from fashion labels to casual wear (such as IT), from accessories to cosmetics and also the electronics and furniture. Inside the shopping mall, there is a UA Cinema with six houses, which have a capacity of 1,200 seats; it provides a comfortable atmosphere to the shoppers or visitors to watch their favorite films.
The elevators inside the shopping mall (我不知道扶手電梯的英文啊)
The entrance of the Langham Place The
casual wear shop
shopping mall
UA Cinema
The cosmetic shop
(B) Office Tower
Langham Place’s 59-storey A Grade office tower stands as the defining landmark right at the heart of Kowloon. The tower offers over 770,000 sq. ft. of office space with panoramic views of Victoria Harbour and the whole Kowloon Peninsula. It equipped with raised flooring, a fiber optic broadband network and telecommunication infrastructure. It has been designed to the highest specifications for the modern office. And also making it become one of the most technologically advanced commercial buildings in Hong Kong. On the other hand, the special area is all office lifts have built-in mobile telephone connections, so all the users can always keep in touch with the clients and colleagues.
The office Tower (day time)
The office Tower (night time)
(3) Hotel
The hotel is directly connected to the Langham Place Mall and the Mongkok MTR underground station. Inside the hotel, the rooms are providing a luxuriating oversized bath, blissful beds, 42-inch large screen television and DVD player and liberal in-room amenities are underlined by a lexicon of technological treats including state-of-the-at IP telephony. It actually becomes another choices to the visitors to live and stay in Hong Kong.
The outlook of the hotel The entrance of the hotel
The effects of
Langham Place in the urban society
The strategy in designing the Langham Place is formed as
a new form of marketing approach which twists the past image of Portland Street
into a clean, high-technology and capitalism.
Change the style of the building in Portland Street:
New vs Old
As we can see in
this picture, 
the buildings of Langham Place are
really different in compare with the neighbor buildings. It is exactly could be said as the
transition from the old to the new.
The glass covering appearance and the glass ceiling inside the shopping
mall make Langham Place’s buildings become more modern and sophisticated. It also create a new shopping icon in
Mongkok and further strengthen Langham Place’s position as an up-market,
trend-setting shopping centre in Hong Kong. And also be the starting point in
renewing a new image of the current Mongkok.
Attract
different status shoppers and visitors in visiting from the Portland Street
We should remember that Mongkok has its style for a
long time; Mongkok is famous in selling the cheap products and normally
attracts the populace. It normally attracts lots of the lower class to
shopping, but the upper-middle may be seldom to visit here. Until the appear of
the Langham Place, the clearest selling point
about Langham Place is its ambivalent class status. And it also alter the
structure and image of Mongkok.
In Hong
Kong, some shopping malls definitely are belong to the upper-middle class, such
as Pacific Place and Festival Walk. Nevertheless,Langham Place is different.
Its design looks similar Pacific Place or Festival Walk, but Langham Place is
not only for the upper-middle class. Because inside the shopping mall, it not
only has big department store, such as Seibu, but also consists of many small
shops run by young local merchandisers. It makes the products could be set as a
suitable prices. Then, it helps
the lower class shoppers could also afford the products and buy what they
prefer. Now, Mongkok is not only
for a specific group of people to visit.
2. (A) Who goes to Langham Place and (B) what do they do there. (C)How does this compare to the people who visit or live in Mongkok. (D)Discuss any differences you identify.
A. Visitors of Langham Place:
The visitors
can be classified as three main types: Tourists
(within members of Langham Privilege Club of the
Langham Place Hotel), Businessmen,
and Shoppers relating to its design
of “3 IN 1 Complex”. Tourists from
foreign countries or Mainland China and residents living in Hong Kong and Macau
(offering special packages from the Hotel) would be accessible to Langham Place
Hotel; Business persons including the staffs working in the Office Tower of the
Langham Place and external
negotiators; In 15-storey shopping mall,
the
Shoppers consist of tourists outside or from the Hotel and local visitors like
white-collared, teenagers, students, couples, families and some seniors as
well. (Refers to Appendix A)
B. Activities in Langham Place:
1.
Shopping: To satisfy Hong Kong's demand for high quality shopping and spending, tourists can
purchase in the shopping centre of Jewellery, Fashion, Cosmetics, AV &
Electronics and Tel-communications and so on, like Langham Place. For the local resident, teenagers,
students from neighbor schools, On Sunday, more families will enjoy their
family day by shopping in shopping mall due to the sales of housewares, but
ignorance of the sales of kid’s clothes because (1) substitutes like the Grand
Century Place in the same district are equipped with such promotion.
2.
Accommodation in the
Langham Place Hotel: Mainly short-stayed tourists live in Hotel for
sightseeing or business negotiation with high technology facilities, for instance, wireless internet and a Cisco Internet
Protocol (IP) colour touch-screen phone with listening overseas radio as well.
3.
Dining: People
can have their meals in The Place, Portal, and
Langham Hotel Club of the Hotel, and in Restaurant & Food Court of the shopping mall also.
4.
Meetings/ Functions: Participants of conference, celebration, banquet and wedding held in the Langham Place
Hotel and exhibition organized in the shopping mall.
5.
Business Dealings: The business persons can undertake
their negotiation in the place of dining, meeting rooms mentioned above and the Office Tower.
6.
Entertainment/ Relaxation: visitors can see movies in the UA Cinema and appreciate live musical
performances. On special occasion, large crowds will gather
under the Digital Sky to celebrate festivals such as New Year's Eve
countdown. Moreover, they can enjoy the Chun Spa with Health and Wellbeing,
Fitness Studio and swimming pool Spa offered by the
Hotel to unwind after a long journey or a day of meetings in the city. Some special package for Hong Kong and
Macau residents also attract them for relaxation.
C. Comparison between the people of
Langham Place and who visit or live in Mongkok?
Comparing with the visitors of the
Langham Place, people whose visit or live in Mongkok usually are mainly local residents of low income group. On daytime, Mongkok visitors near the
Langham Place usually shop for cheap and fine goods or traditional craft like
seal-making and Chinese bridal veil and Shanghai hair salon.
Those people would meal in restaurants with Chinese or Cantonese
traditional food, snack and desserts with reasonable price. Decorators, construction workers and electricians
in manufacturing industry want to buying materials in the Argyle Street, Canton
Street and Shantung Street. (Refer to Appendix A)
Habitually, middle-aged or elderly
Residents would always buy daily accessories, clothes and food in the wet
market in Nelson Street and Canton Road.
At night, gamblers would bet in the small underground gambling houses
and whoremasters would patronize to prostitution in the Portland Street and
Shantung Street for entertainment and relaxation.
D. Discuss any differences identified?
As such, we can identify some
differences between activities, people in the Langham Place and that outside
the Langham. In Langham Place, the occupation of them is mainly white-collared
that offer consumer services employed in
tertiary industry, for example, banking, and financial services. However, the neighboring of the Langham
Place engages in wholesale of raw materials, so people who were in
manufacturing industry would purchase raw materials for providing producer services.
So the wages of people inside the Langham Place would be relatively
higher than the people lived or visited close
to the Langham Place in Mongkok, then they can spend more disposal income on luxurious goods and services.
And the low-income group resides with a lot of shops for mortgage of
valuable second-hand goods.
For
tourists, 
they would prefer to be served in the 
Langham Place with a variety of
commodities and food with brand name, good quality and goodwill instead of
products or food sold and served in stalls of wet market or in small
shops. So local residents become the
main customers of the small retail industry and catering trade located
neighboring the Langham Place.
Apart from trading activities, the
Langham Place provides wholesome entertainment for the visitors, like Spa,
moviegoing, swimming and exercising. However, the entertainment in the Portland Street and
Shantung Street are badly habitual, partly illegal and beatable by the Police,
like prostitution and gambling.
Q3. The
building of Langham Place has begun to transform Mongkok. In your opinion what
is the impact of Langham Place on the wider neighborhood in which it is
located. Identify any issues or problems from the development of Langham Place
in Mongkok.
Mongkok Site
Mongkok
is one of the oldest and most popular shopping locations in Hong Kong. Originally
a densely populated residential area, Mongkok has changed dramatically over the
past two decades into a dynamic commercial, shopping and entertainment
district.[2]
Mongkok's
attraction is its diversity of shopping facilities. The majority of the shops in Mongkok are found at
street-level or the lower floors of high-rise buildings. There are a variety of small to medium
size shopping arcades, each specializing in different merchandise ranging from
apparel, accessories, mobile phones, video and computer products to
collectibles.
The Impact of Langham Place
Langham Place is opened in the bustling heart of
Mongkok in 25th January, 2005 which positioning as an exciting,
contemporary and happening retail and entertainment destination.
Langham
Place, standing right next to the MTR Mongkok Station, will bring about fundamental
changes to this district. In the
following, we would look into the impact of Langham Place towards the internal
economy, business and the community in Mongkok and issues or problem from the
development of the Langham Place in Mongkok.
Internal Economy of Mongkok - Business
The opening of Langham Place is just the beginning
of the URA contribution to the sustained regeneration of Mongkok. Simultaneously, the social and economic
regeneration of Mongkok will also be closely monitored as a result of the
impact of Langham Place.
Langham become
a new landmark of Mongkok, it attracts tourists and locals alike and is
particularly favored by young people for its trendy shops and becomes a densely
populated center. Therefore, property
in this area is becoming more expensive because of the “flourishing population”
along with the opening of the Langham Place. Argyle Center (旺角中心), Fa Yuen Street (花園街),
Grand Century Place (新世紀廣場) …They 
are the most popular place people like
to come in Mongkok. However, many
people are now coming to Mongkok because of Langham Place. As a result, many shops are 
likely to change to cater the style or
characteristic of Langham Place and more new retailer are open around the
Langham Place like SaSa,
but some are closed
because of 
unaffordable rent or lack of such
competition advantages. Only a
small number of special shops can live, like the traditional Chinese ceremonial dress and hair salon.
In the meanwhile, sex industry also
seems to be disappeared since the expensive rent and the anti-sex industry in
the Langham Place’s redevelopment project of old buildings in Mongkok, a place which is famous
for cheap stuff and prostitution. Consequently, Langham Place becomes the
catalyst of change and progression for the whole district.
“within in this 3-in-1 mega development of Langham Place, we will be directly creating over 2,000 new job opportunities…through Langham Place, we are not only enhancing shoppers and tourists' experience but will also contribute to a more prosperous economy," said Dr. K. S. Lo, Deputy Chairman and Managing director of Great Eagle Holdings Limited. Mr. Lo pointed out that job opportunities are provided because of the opening of Langham Place. However, many shops are going out of business, like small restaurants and stalls, and some brothels, which create the problem of unemployment.
Besides, the sex industry seems to be disappeared around the Langham Place, however, it is just move back of the street or to other districts. Therefore, the problem of sex worker is not clear up but only move to the other district like Yau Ma Tei (油麻地).[3]
In addition, as the land in Mongkok district is scarce, therefore, neighborhoods indicated that it is inconvenient and their business is affected if Langham Place held functions or events outside its mall.
To cooperate with
the development of Langham Place, Planning Department plans to improve the traffic
arteries in order to avoid the people and cars to compete for the road in
Mongkok district. However, the Chairman
of Yau Tsim Mong district, Mr. Chan Man-yao stated that it did not have enough
space for use and develop in a densely building in Mongkok. Therefore, about 300 mini bus drivers
will be affected by the movement of the mini bus stop if the plan is decided to
execute.
Internal Economy of Mongkok –
Community
Mr. Edward Cheng, Chairman of URA said the URA
would take more initiatives to implement more redevelopment, rehabilitation and
street beautification work in the neighboring areas of Langham Place to speed
up rejuvenation of the entire district.[4]
Therefore, the opening of Langham
Place makes its surrounding more brightness which seems to drive out the
negative part in Mongkok. Also,
Mr. Edward indicated that the whole district has to be transformed along with
the Langham Place’s project. Therefore, police petrol is enforced around the
Langham Place in order to eject the sex workers. Energy, information technology and new style are injected
into Mongkok so as to make Mongkok become more modernized.
However, conservation of heritage site in Mongkok is ignored. Mongkok is a specific district and has its own characteristic, like the unique nightlife in Mongkok, densely populated, diversity of shopping facilities, sex industry and so on. Theses are the environmental characteristic in Mongkok. If Mongkok is transformed then it is not Mongkok. Therefore, issue about government neglect the mode or fashion and the contextual concerns in the district are moving up.
To conclude, the opening of Langham Place in Mongkok brings about a densely populated to the Portland Street, and enhanced the level of Mongkok district and provides job opportunities. The climate of this area seems to become less negative. However, it also evokes a supplementary issue about the unemployment as a result from the closed of the small shops. Also, the development of the Langham Place makes its surround shops inconvenient to do business if functions are hold, and the conservation of heritage site in Mongkok is destroyed or ignored.
4. The meaning of
the Langham Place experience to Hong Kong residents
Mongkok is a district with one of the highest population densities in
the world that characterised by a mixture of old and new multi-story buildings
with different classes and characteristics. Langham Place is built according to
the urban redevelopment scheme by the Hong Kong Government, located between Portland Street, Shanghai Street, Shantung Street
and Argyle Street, which are the old and poor districts in Hong Kong. On one hand, the emergence of Langham
Place injects new meanings to Mongkok; on the other hand, it is considered as
the landmark of Mongkok representing its cluture.
Langham
Place is the landmark of Mongkok, which is located in between Portland Street, Shanghai
Street, Shantung Street and Argyle Street
(a) Langham Place
injects new meaning to Monkok
As mentioned before, Langham Place is a complex and ambitious architecture which comprises of an unusual 15-storey shopping mall, a 59-level office tower and a 5-star hotel, it is quite different from the old building style in Portland Street, Shanghai Street and Argyle Street. As an urban re-development programme, it connects with different streets and also injects energy and changes to it.
In the past, bar, retail shop and mahjong shop at those street are mainly for lower-class, but recently, most of them are redecorated with characteristic and trendy to fit the grand image of Langham Place. Langham Place successfully re-develops those streets through attracting and mobilizing different class people who didn’t go shopping at those streets before to visit.
On the other hand, Langham Place
represents “Mong Kok Culture” that it is flexibility, diversity and
mixture of cultures. Within Langham Place Shopping Mall, the “Tenant
(b) Langham Place means Mongkok
Mixture” (租客組合) is the mirror of
Mongkok that plurality of goods and services from
upper-class to lower-class are provided, such as ground floor and 2nd
floor which selling famous brand products, 6th to 9th
floor selling cheap product for teenager and lower class. People,
Thus, different target groups are covered.
Lower floor of Langham Place is
mainly selling the high-class product for upper class people, while the
upper floor is selling the popular product, which is for teenager or lower
class people. Tenant Mixture & Plurality of
goods and services from upper class to lower class are provided for
different class of people.
Then, the
structure of Langham Place comprise of western style such as sculpture at the entrance, “Feng Shui elevator”(the elevator likes a knife, and according to Feng Shui’s theory, it is bad for customers and good for businessmen) inside the
mall. All of these represent the characteristic of Mong Kok, Hong Kong and also
Hong Kong Citizens
Special decoration within Langham Place “Feng Shui elevator”in the Langham Place. Sculpture at the entrance of
Langham Place
in
term of diversity, flexibility and mixture of different culture.
Reference:
City Development Company Ltd (2005), Langham Place homepage, Available at:
[http://www.langhamplace.com.hk/main/index_c.html], Retrieved on 29 September
2005.