New towns of Hong Kong

New Towns in Hong Kong are areas that the Hong Kong government started developing in the 1950s, in order to accommodate the booming population. At the first phase of development, the newly developed towns were called "satellite town", a concept borrowed from the United Kingdom, of which Hong Kong was then still a colony. Kwun Tong, located at eastern Kowloon, and Tsuen Wan, located at the south-west New Territories, were designated as the first two satellite towns, when the urban area in Hong Kong was still relatively small, restricted to the central and western part of Kowloon Peninsula and the northern side of Hong Kong Island. Wah Fu Estate was also built in a remote corner at the southern side of Hong Kong Island, with similar concepts in a smaller scale.

Plans to develop new areas were continued in the late 1960s and 1970s, when the name "New Town" was officially adopted. As most flat lands in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island had already been developed, the government proposed to build New Towns in the New Territories, a largely rural area at that time. The first phase of New Town development, which started in 1973, included Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun. With the success and experience in these New Towns, further stages of new town development were launched in subsequent decades. Up until now, nine New Towns have been built and about half of the Hong Kong population reside in these newly developed areas. After building a new town on Lantau Island in the 1990s, the pace of developing New Towns slowed down in the 2000s, owing to the lowered rate of population growth. Responding to the high demand in the housing market and the difficulty of residents buying a new home, the Hong Kong government suggested to start building New Towns again in the 2010s, hoping that could increase the supply in private housing market and provide more flats for public housing. For example, Hung Shui Kiu New Town, Kwu Tung North New Town and North Fanling New Town are proposed by the government and currently under public consultation.

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