Hong Kong offers a clean, lively and imaginative place in which to live, work and relax. However, there is the feeling that the convivial aspects of Hong Kong as a city with its close-knit neighbourhoods, cafes, shops, markets and community centres, which are already operating tenuously, have been increasingly sacrificed to an anonymous landscape of tower blocks, shopping malls and suburban sprawl. For Hong Kong to continue to be healthy, attractive and prosperous, we need to take stock of how we are utilising our natural resources.

Hong Kong is more fortunate than most cities in that it is blessed with both a verdant countryside and a natural harbour. As quality of life issues come into play more and more, so has the relevance of the harbour increased as we aspire to become a world city. A couple of months ago, members from the Environment, Real Estate Services and Real Estate and Infrastructure committees gathered to discuss how to better enhance one of Hong Kong's prime natural resource, our waterfront.

To create a more interesting and attractive promenade, it should not serve merely as a walkway but include such amenities as bicycle lanes, alfresco dining and street entertainment. There would also be a mixture of restaurants, bars and retail outlets as well as cultural activities unique to Hong Kong that cater to visitors and tourists, as well as local residents. The walkway will be designed to weave away from and back to the shoreline in order for users to access and enjoy rest and recreational facilities described in the foregoing. There will also be intermediate access to the promenade very much like feeder roads connecting to a main thoroughfare.

Because real cities are made by the people who live in them, the participation of citizens, businesses and other stakeholders in the project is likely to produce good results. Therefore, the business community would be involved by providing corporate sponsorship for maintenance and beautification while the general public would be brought in through design competitions and feedback on conceptual designs. However, putting such a large-scale community participatory system into practice requires much more than this. It demands wholly new organisational approaches. In Hong Kong housing, parks, transport, electricity, water and sewage disposal are all organised by different departments or companies with only limited links with one another. This rigid structure is a major barrier to an enhanced waterfront. Through collaboration, city departments can achieve a more efficient use of resources.

That is why part and parcel of the proposals includes the suggestion for a Waterfront Authority or agency to assume responsibility for the overall co-ordination of the initiative. The work of this body is especially important given that the implementation and the ongoing management of the Harbour Walk and waterfront facilities and attractions will require skilful co-ordination, highlighting the fundamental issue of how best to reconcile the disparate interests of the various government departments that have oversight of the harbour.

However, to be effective, such an agency will need to be given a wide remit and a high degree of authority and autonomy; otherwise it will not be able to meet the expectations of the community. In the interim of such an agency being set up, a think-tank could be established to benchmark the development of Hong Kong's waterfront against other cities such as Sydney, San Francisco and Vancouver.