New towns of Hong Kong

Tin Shui Wai New Town.

The area of Hong Kong is very mountainous and many places in the New Territories have limited access to roads. Hong Kong started developing new towns in the 1950s, to accommodate booming populations. In the early days the term "satellite towns" was used. The very first new towns included Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong. Wah Fu Estate was built in a remote corner on Hong Kong Island, with similar concepts in a smaller scale.

In the late 1960s and the 1970s, another stage of new town developments was launched. Nine new towns have been developed so far. Land use is carefully planned and development provides plenty of room for public housing projects. Rail transport is usually available at a later stage. The first towns are Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O. Tuen Mun was intended to be self-reliant, but was not successful and turned into a bedroom community like the other new towns. More recent developments are Tin Shui Wai and North Lantau (Tung Chung-Tai Ho). The government also plans to build such towns in Hung Shui Kiu and Kwu Tung North. At present, there are a total of nine new towns.

New Towns	Time of development	Population (in persons)	Area (km²)	Population density (persons / km ²)	Administrative division
Tsuen Wan New Town (including Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung, and Tsing Yi)	1959 (construction and planning begins) 1973 (formal, full scale development)	774,000	24.00	32,300	Tsuen Wan District and Kwai Tsing District
Sha Tin New Town (including Sha Tin, Tai Wai, and Ma On Shan)	1973	630,000	35.87	18,000	Sha Tin District
Tuen Mun New Town	1973	488,500	19.00	25,710	Tuen Mun District
Tai Po New Town	1976	282,000	12.70	22,200	Tai Po District
Fanling-Sheung Shui New Town	1973	244,300	7.80	31,300	North District
Yuen Long New Town	1977	211,000	11.70	18,000	Yuen Long District
Tseung Kwan O New Town (including Hang Hau, Po Lam, LOHAS Park, Tiu Keng Leng, and Tseung Kwan O)	1982	350,000	10.05	34,800	Sai Kung District
Tin Shui Wai New Town	1987	270,000	4.30	63,000	Yuen Long District
North Lantau New Town (Currently only includes Tung Chung)	1996	80,000	8.30	9,700	Islands District

Planned New Towns

• Yuen Long District
  • Hung Shui Kiu New Town (Tin Shui Wai New Town and Yuen Long New Town)
• North District
  • Kwu Tung North New Town
  • North Fanling New Town (Fanling-Sheung Shui New Town)
  • Ping Che-Ta Kwu Ling New Town
• Tai Po District
  • Pak Shek Kok New Town (Tai Po New Town)
• Sai Kung District
  • South Tseung Kwan O and Pak Shing Kok (Tseung Kwan O New Town)
• Sha Tin District
  • Shui Chuen O (Sha Tin New Town)
  • Kau To Hill (Sha Tin New Town)
  • Whitehead and Lok Wo Sha (Sha Tin New Town）
• Tuen Mun District
  • So Kwun Wat (Tuen Mun New Town)

See also

• New towns of Singapore