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| Buddhism in Action |
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| "Planning for a City: A Buddhist Perspective" |
| By Fung Ling, Hong Kong |
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| Ms. Fung Ling |
I was born and grew up in Hong Kong and have practiced
Buddhism here all my life. One of the cornerstones of
Buddhist philosophy is its perspective on the
interrelationship between all things. At school, studying
the relationships between the animals, people and their
living environment in my ecology lessons excited my interest
and led to me studying town planning at university. I
currently work as a town planner for the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region Government, where I contemplate these
relationships on a daily basis and attempt to ensure that
they can be harmonized.
Anyone who has flown into Hong Kong and seen the many
tightly packed high-rise buildings that tower into the sky
will have a graphic sense of some of the challenges involved
for city planning in this densely populated environment.
Hong Kong is home to 7 million people, but because of the
mountainous geography of the islands, only 24 percent of the
1,100-square-kilometer land surface has been built on.
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| A Balanced Approach |
Buddhist philosophy, based on respect and concern for all
life, accords closely with the concept of sustainable
development. It offers me a powerful perspective from which
to consider the harmonious development of the city or of a
particular community within the city. Sustainable
development involves balancing social, environmental and
economic concerns. It means creating social harmony and
equality, protecting the environment and ensuring economic
prosperity. Buddhism itself is essentially about bringing
all these elements of life into balance, whether on a
personal level or a community or global level.
City planners must ensure that sufficient land can be made
available for commercial and industrial growth and that the
city's economy can prosper. Buddhism, though, teaches that
all life and phenomena function according to a universal
principle or law of life and that human prosperity
ultimately comes from acting in accordance with this
principle. What this means fundamentally is that we cannot
build happiness or prosperity upon the destruction or
disregard of other life, including the natural environment,
for ultimately we ourselves will suffer the consequences.
Buddhism also teaches the importance of dialogue in ensuring
mutual understanding and social harmony. In my work context
this means seeking the input of the public and ensuring that
their opinions are heard during the planning process.
Although achieving a balance between social, economic and
environmental concerns is not easy, I see greater efforts
being made to do so.
| Cornelius Paas/Still Pictures |
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| Hong Kong |
The negotiations around Sham Chung, an area home to
mangroves, fung shui woodland and rare species of freshwater
fish, are a case in point. In the late 1990s, the action
taken by a developer to change the area from abandoned
agricultural use to a turf area attracted the concern of
green groups. A statutory town plan announced in 2006 was
intended to ensure that the natural ecology be preserved. It
establishes procedures for both environmental groups and
those representing commercial interests to voice their
objections against land use zonings and to engage in
dialogue at Town Planning Board meetings. Rezoning proposals
have to demonstrate convincingly that any development will
not have adverse environmental and ecological impact on the
area.
In this way we are attempting to ensure that the scarce
developable land that is available for the city's growth can
be utilized in the wisest manner and in a way beneficial to
all concerned.
My practice in the SGI has instilled in me the value of
respecting all life. In my work it reminds me to strive to
provide a good and healthy living and working environment
for the people of Hong Kong and to avoid causing harm to the
natural environment.
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[Courtesy, April 2007 SGI Quarterly] |
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