Hong Kong women are the longest-living people in the world

IT came as a real surprise to me when I was recently informed by a friend of mine that Hong Kong women are the longest-living people in the world.

Their average life expectancy stands at 86.7 years, overtaking Japanese women's longevity of 85.9 years recorded in 2011. This is indeed an astonishing piece of information given that Hong Kong was all this while perceived as a stressful place to live due to its high density and fast-paced environment.

Equally interesting is that Hong Kong men also hold an excellent life expectancy statistic with an average lifespan of 80.5 years based on an announced report from the Hong Kong government. Experts attributed Hong Kong's secrets of longevity to their modern healthcare, greater health consciousness and active lifestyle.

These remarkable facts dismissed the myth that high density living affects a person's quality of life. On the contrary, it may be a plus point to people's health and living quality as proven in this island's success story.

Hong Kong is a recognised model which ought to be examined with greater detail and the information gained may very well be useful in shaping Kuala Lumpur to become a world-class city and its citizen a healthy one in the near future. Special attention should be given to its high density development, excellent public transportation system and good pedestrian walkways, all of which have brought impressive growth, vibrancy and success to this compact city.

The fascinating story of this city begins with the fact that due to its mountainous terrain and rocky adjoining islands, only 23.7% of its total land has been developed. The remaining 76.3% is totally green as can be seen from Google Maps. Of this developed land, only 6.8% or 76 sq km has been used for residential purposes to house a 7 million population. To accommodate a large population in such a small area, the only option is to build upwards. Today, Hong Kong has around 6,588 high-rise buildings which have surpassed New York's 5,818 buildings, and has become a truly “skyscraper city”.

The high-rise residential properties are often built vertically without spreading too far from the city centre and nearby to transportation stations, commercial areas and shopping malls. This has allowed its people to enjoy the convenience and efficiency of their living environment like shopping and working all within convenient distance from their home. Coupled with an excellent public transportation system (such as MRT, bus, taxi, train and ferry) whereby 90% of its people have made good use of and the highest rate in the world at the current moment, its citizens are able to enjoy a balanced lifestyle.

The shorter travelling time has allowed its citizens to carry out their daily activities with ease, thereby keeping them relatively healthy and possibly, cheerful. This is perfectly assisted by good pedestrian walkways. Walking is viewed as an integrated mode of transport in Hong Kong. Their citizens are comfortable to walk as far as 1km to 2km for daily activities, and their walking pace is definitely much faster compared to the tourists in this beautiful city. This may well be another reason for the longevity of Hong Kong people as a rolling stone gathers no moss.

Hong Kong's story is a good representation of the development model depicted in my previous article, where high-rise living and public transportation work like flowers and bees, they link effectively to maximise efficiency. A city that grows horizontally instead of vertically will be difficult to sustain when it spreads out too far for public transport to reach and for commercial areas to serve the people economically and efficiently.

High density living complemented with efficient public transportation is a good model to be considered when we plan for MRT lines and property developments in our cities. A thorough and far-sighted planning will not only lead our cities towards a world-class standard, it may even contribute to better quality living and longer life expectancy of our people at the end of the day.

And by the way, with only less than one quarter of its land developed as mentioned earlier, Hong Kong remains one of the greenest cities of its kind in the world.

As a comparison, if only one quarter of KL is high-rise development like in Hong Kong, there would be 182 sq km of green out of 243 sq km of land area, approximately 97 times of Lake Gardens and Titiwangsa Park combined. - The Star

l FIABCI Asia-Pacific regional secretariat chairman Datuk Alan Tong has over 50 years of experience in property development. He is also the group chairman of Bukit Kiara Properties. For feedback, please emailfeedback@fiabci-asiapacific.com.