Why Hong Kong’s next chief executive needs to bring back the glamour

As the chief executive election heats up, it’s clear that there are candidates who really want to work for Hong Kong. The problem is that all four candidates are just talking about the same old social and political issues that are the standard remit for any chief executive. Some candidates might just look north for hints.

Yet, they need not guess what role Beijing wants Hong Kong to play or how the city fits into its national plans. Beijing just wants Hong Kong to continue to prosper. The candidates should set their own vision for Hong Kong.

Plan for a self-sustaining building on Hong Kong’s waterfront

One of Hong Kong’s most important foundations is its position as an international city. The only way for us to thrive is to keep reinventing ourselves to stay at the forefront of globalisation. This suits Hong Kong’s history, local demands and, equally important, the long-term needs of China.

To do so, our leader has to regenerate the glamour of Hong Kong by making it aesthetically beautiful and interesting to both locals and foreigners. Many of us may feel this city has stagnated since the 1980s in this regard. A main reason is that our government is still relying heavily on “functionality” to guide its thinking, which yielded positive results in the last century but increasingly comes up short when addressing new demands.

By “functionality”, I mean a concern with quantitative targets, efficiency, convenience, and so on. These things are important, but, today, both residents and visitors have higher aspirations that cannot be met by a merely well-functioning city. We know that beautifully designed products, like those from Apple, have triumphed over other equally functional but not-so-well-designed products. Our city, already strong in functionality, needs to move to the next level to become beautiful, interesting and rich in variety.

Hong Kong needs green buildings to spruce up the environment