The Urban Renewal Authority is currently carrying out the Kowloon City Yau Tsim Mong Path / Jaffe Road Development Plan. The executive director of the URA, Victor Wai, published a blog today (19th) outlining the analysis of 30 “most stylish streets” with the aim of elevating the “Dragon City” district into a “stylish community” from four aspects.
Earlier, the British magazine Time Out released its annual ranking of the “most stylish streets in the world” for 2024, with Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan ranking second. Victor Wai mentioned that the URA has studied 30 “most stylish streets” and hopes to incorporate the common points into the urban renewal plan for the “Dragon City” district. According to the team’s analysis, these streets share four common characteristics, including the gathering of unique dining and retail shops, rich historical and cultural heritage, convenient pedestrian access, and a diverse range of vibrant community activities.
The URA believes that the “Dragon City” district is filled with a blend of trendy and Thai cultures, along with a bustling atmosphere of shop-lined streets. Through various urban renewal efforts, the area has great potential to gradually transform into a “stylish community”.
Victor Wai pointed out that the “Dragon City” district is home to many distinctive shops, attracting visitors for various purposes both day and night, whether it be for grocery shopping or tasting trendy and Thai delicacies. In designing the project, the team emphasizes preserving the characteristic dense shop layout and enhancing the area’s image as a “small street dining cultural district.” They also provide relocation plans for the current specialty merchants in the project area to encourage them to stay and operate in the original location.
Furthermore, as part of the “Small Area Rehabilitation” pilot program in the district, the URA will provide additional funding to beautify the facades of eight participating buildings. They have invited 45 artists from local, Thai, and overseas to submit design proposals to create murals that highlight the historical and cultural essence of the “Dragon City” district. The URA will also carry out beautification projects on the streets within the pilot program, including laying special patterned tiles on pedestrian walkways, utilizing thematic designs to beautify nearby electrical boxes, laying blue anti-slip steel sand on certain roads to create a sky reflection effect, adding special installations showcasing trendy Thai knowledge alongside the walkways, and installing street signs with trendy Thai motifs and airplane patterns on both sides of the streets.
To enhance the pedestrian experience further, the project’s design includes broad ground-level pedestrian spaces, as well as beautified back alleys connecting different streets to improve pedestrian accessibility. This includes transforming the Yau Tsim Mong Path and Nam Kok Road into spacious green pedestrian walkways within the project, adding doorways and underground squares at the pedestrian tunnel exits leading to the Kai Tak New Area, along with the beautified street areas connecting to Kai Tak New Area, Sha Po Street, Drumhead Island Road, Nam Kok Road, Yau Tsim Mong Path, and Jaffe Road, creating a pedestrian network that links the “Dragon City” district for leisure, dining, and experiencing art and culture all in one.
The project also plans to build two squares for community groups to hold traditional festivals and culturally rich events on special days and holidays, reinforcing the district’s characteristic of ethnic harmony, enhancing the interaction between “people,” “place,” and the environment, ultimately creating vitality and local charm.